Cue: The Background Character
by ByeDollface
Summary: Bridget works for a company that fixes mistakes in other universes, she works as a background character, a nobody. Main characters aren't supposed to even notice Switchers, so why do they keep pulling her deeper into the story?
1. Introduction

**Helloooooo everyone!**

This story was inspired by Dramaworld, it's just for fun, a fun read. If you're looking for something really serious, I don't think this is for you, though this most certainly isn't a parody or anything too goofy. What I mean by fun is that I'm not going to be too worried about whether or not this is the best I've ever written etc... (I'm not looking to get this published after all, it's _fanfiction_ ). Constructive criticism is always helpful though!

 **Be sure to leave a review, like or follow this story if you enjoyed it!**

 _"If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it."_

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 **Introduction: The Unlucky One.**

I followed the sound of chattering women at the end of the long and white hallway, although I came in often, I was never really quite sure if I was going the right way because everything in the office looked the same. Only the individual meeting rooms were allowed some personality and additions, a privilege that was used and abused to the max by the, mostly female, workers in the Romance department. I strolled to the only still open door in the hallway, the outside of it still pitch black, while the inside was already painted a horrid pink shade. It wasn't a very good paint job either, might I add. I did a little prayer in my head, hoping for a mission to keep me busy for a while and for it to be more entertaining than the last one. I mostly got the bad ones though, so today shouldn't be any different. A pushover, I was too afraid to disappoint to say no to missions I eventually dreaded doing. Told myself it was still better than any other job in the world, but still, getting to help a story I actually enjoyed would be nice once in a while. Making sure Christian Grey's sex-toy collection was up to date and ready for use, just wasn't the type of thing I liked spending time on... Not sure anyone would.

When I walked through the door most of the others were already there, I tried to remember who were still on missions but since I was rarely in contact with any of them it was hard to see who was missing. The small meeting room was packed with a large oval table, leaving just enough room to squeeze between the already seated colleagues and the heavily decorated wall to my spot. I almost took down two posters while trying to get there, but luckily everyone was too busy talking about their missions to notice the quiet sound of paper ripping behind me. I managed to maneuver passed the weirdly placed rose plants without getting caught in the thorns or knock them over, so when I finally reached it, I plopped down and sighed in relief. As I poured myself a cup of tea I noticed some of the others already sat with their fingers crossed and I leaned over to the one person I had actually worked with, Jessie. "Something good on the line today?"

Jessie jumped a little, her eyes widened before she smiled. "Oh hey Bridget, didn't hear you come in!"

"Yeah, well, here I am," I said a little awkwardly, amazed that she hadn't noticed me claw through all the obstacles.

She nodded and looked at the other girls as well before seemingly thinking about it, she squeezed her eyes shut before they flew open again. "Hmmm I don't really... Right! Gone With The Wind had another opening, so I guess that's why they're so fired up."

I hmm'd before trying to take a sip of my tea, it was still too hot so I flinched back and licked my lip. Jessie let out a small giggle before shaking her head. "I'm so glad you're back again, you took a two week break right?"

"Right. That last one just sucked me dry," I confessed, my eyes rolling back into my head as I remembered the amount of work Fifty Shades of Grey had required. I'd been glad the first two days I'd gotten off, but the rest of the two weeks I'd just been waiting to get back to work as I had nothing else to do.

She nodded in agreement and patted my shoulder. Jessie, like me, wasn't really like the rest of the group. She did have a big mouth and was always chattering away, but the other girls didn't quite seem to be accept her. There was never anyone that came to talk to us and whenever one of us had tried in the past, we got the cold shoulder or just some polite conversation. We didn't really fit their standards. They were typical girls, the pretty ones that are popular in school and we were, well, we were pretty much the outcasts. Nothing was ever mean spirited, they probably didn't know how to approach us, just like we were in the dark on how to approach them. It didn't really matter though, this job was mainly a one-woman show, only the rookies went in pairs or whenever a mission was deemed dangerous we went in small groups. That was rarely the case though, especially in the Romance department.

The rest of the room suddenly became quiet and I checked my watch, yep, three o' clock. I always called it the calm before the storm, because these girls would go from 0 to 100 within the second of Ellen, our manager, calling out the available missions. Everyone wanted something they liked, something they hadn't done before and mostly something quick so they could move on to the next one. I could hear them panting already, surprised that their mouths weren't foaming as she walked through the door and shut it.

"Romance team, Gone With the Wind; one of the minor characters broke her leg, she won't be able to set scene 12 in motion." Ellen looked around the room while the ten of us looked at each other, you could cut the tension with a knife.

Gone With the Wind was a classic, many of the girls were dying to go there, including me. I opened my mouth, still watching the others around me like a hawk, while they were also eyeing everyone else. "I-"

"I want to go!" Jessie shouted, almost blowing out my right eardrum.

"You've gone, like, at least six times this past year!" Another girl, Amelia shouted in return, her voice pitching at the end of the sentence. She put her thin blonde hair into a tight ponytail. "I'll fight you for it!"

The tall girl that sat across from me jumped from her seat. "Both of you have done GWTW multiple times, someone else should go."

"Someone like you?" Jessie sneered and Amelia nodded in agreement, glaring at the tall girl with vicious eyes.

"Calm down ladies," Our supervisor said, her voice stern but amused. "Since it has been slightly chaotic, I think it'd be best if someone with a little more experience goes this time, so Jessie, I'll put you on the case,"

Jessie squealed and made her way up to Ellen, taking the information forms with her and leaving the rest of the room pretty much devastated. I longingly stared after her. "Just can't catch a break," I mumbled, glaring into my teacup.

Ellen cleared her throat and re-stacked her papers. "Next up, Twilight: Breaking Dawn."

"That's supernatural Ellen," Loïs said softly, probably not wanting to seem rude while pointing out the mistake. She was a tiny girl, with short brown hair and big blue eyes. "Didn't we have that whole fight with Supernatural over this?"

"They've given the franchise back to us because they found it was too much romance, none of the workers wanted to go anymore..."

"Ohh..." Was the sound that echoed through the room. Truth was, Romance didn't really want the franchise either, most of the girls here found it too scary with the vampire and werewolf thing. I felt a cloud of doom forming over me and decided to throw in my two cents before getting screwed over once again. "Maybe we should pass it on to Young Adult?"

Loïs shook her head at me from across the table. "Young Adult are too busy these days, they're in the process to hiring new people though."

"Well we need someone now," Ellen said, looking at me with hope filled eyes.

I fought the urge to roll my eyes at her, she always gave me the shitty universes. "B-but I just came back from Fifty Shades of Grey," I stuttered halfheartedly, hoping she'd give me a break. Everyone just kept looking at me and I eventually gave in. "...Fine! Fine, I'll go."

They all clapped their hands in relief and Ellen winked at me while handing me the paperwork.

While strolling to my desk, I gave myself the same speech I did every time. The 'next time I won't do the shitty stuff anymore' speech, the 'next time I'll really stand up for myself and my rights' speech. Next time, I'd really do that, I'd speak up and say no. What was the worst that could happen? Why did I always imagine having this huge ass mouth, but when it came to actually acting like it I lay on my back and gave in within seconds? This had been a problem all my life, believe it or not, I was actually the mouthiest in this period of my life I'd ever been. I was always the quiet one, "speak up" "be yourself" "oh were you there the whole time?" these were the things people have always said to me, repeated so many times it had me flinch when it happened again and again and again. Being quiet wasn't considered cute in the real world, it was deemed annoying or weak. And that's pretty much how I felt most of the time. That's why this job seemed the place for me, not just the truly magical aspects of it of traveling through universes and seeing all these fictional people, which was nice of course. It was more the fact that no one would ever say "You should talk more" "You should show more of yourself", I could be me and do the job right and everyone would be happy.

I just never realized that a job with minimal human contact, could have me feeling so lonely.

At my desk I browsed through some of the forms, already feeling a headache coming up at the sight of all the problems this universe had. I was supposed to fix all these things without anyone in the story noticing I was the one doing it, difficult when most of the things you have to fix are close up to the main character. I'd probably be fine, but it was going to be a whole lot of work... that's what I wished for right? "This is bullshit," I whispered.

The colleague I shared a desk with leaned over, she held out her hand and I gave her the papers. "You okay? Heard you got the Twilight fix, tough."

Trying to smile I shook my head. "What else is new, Gem."

Gemma chuckled while putting on her reading glasses, she browsed through the stack like I had and let out a sigh. "It seems like a big one, but these kinda things usually fix themselves. You gotta be careful though or you'll get written in."

"Pfff," I rolled my eyes at her. "You believe that stuff? All of the managers have told me that isn't even possible. It's just a fairy tale some desperate girl made up."

She shrugged slightly. "Maybe you're right, but I swear I've heard of girls disappearing on missions before, really bad ones too."

The clock struck four and I said goodbye to Gemma to be able to catch the bus. Once on it I put on some music, trying to to think about getting home. I lived by myself in a two bedroom apartment, the pay for this 'dangerous' and utmost secretive job was amazing. When I started I was able to get this apartment and furnish it however I wanted, I used the second bedroom as a guestroom and had it set up beautifully for whomever would come over. A nice kitchen connected to the living room, I had everything done in a grey and cream color. At the time, two years ago, I thought I was living the life, I bought all the clothes I wanted, the make-up, the food. I'd cook the most ridiculous meals, just because I could. Everything at that time felt perfect, because I guess I'd always imagined there'd soon be someone to share it all with, my mind going even as far as to think of the guestroom as a nursery if necessary. But while the job was everything I seemed to need and wanted, it left little to no room for anyone or anything to bond with me, let stand live with me. I always thought I'd get a dog, first thing I'd do if I ever went to live on my own. That's impossible since at times I'm away from home two weeks at the time.

I grew up with very little, my parents always had money trouble and my sister whom had a family of her own now, followed in their footsteps. I guess I found out the hard way that the material things in life, wasn't really what could make you happy. My parents barely called me, they were upset I left the house at 16 and they've still not come around. I missed being around them, the smell of home was the one thing I needed after a hard week. Maybe they'd been right just a little, maybe I had been naive.

The bus stopped a few feet away from the entrance of my apartment building, something I thought was a blessing when I first came to live here. Now it was just a few steps closer to the loneliness that awaited me on the second floor. I could see the dark window from where I got out, no sign of life, I knew exactly what it would be like when I got there. Empty, dark and quiet. I strolled up the stairs to keep the emptiness away for a few more seconds, but somehow no matter how slowly I made my way up there, the moment I had to in always came too soon. I turned the key and was met with darkness and silence, something that brought tears to my eyes these last couple of weeks. First thing I did was turn on every light and the TV, for some background noise. I put on my pajamas and tied my hair into a bun on top of my head. I watched some TV before turning on the kettle for my noodle soup, the only thing I seemed to be eating these days. There was no fun in cooking when only you were going to taste it, why would I put in all the effort?

Plopping down on the couch I waited for the kettle to be done when the phone rang. I eyed it suspiciously for a moment before picking up. "Hello?"

"Hey Bridget, it's me! How you doing little sis?"

I suddenly felt energized again and sat up, a grin on my face. "I'm fine, just got home from work and all. How are things at home, mom and dad alright?"

Brianna hmm'd through the phone. "They're all good, same old same old you know. I've been so busy with Quin, he's got to start swimming lessons and everything."

"Oh wow, you two should totally come over soon, I haven't seen him in forever! I got this guest bedroom all set up- well I've told you like a million times, I'll pay for the tickets! When can you come?" I asked enthusiastically. "Last time you told me you would be on a break around this time remember?"

"Ohh right," There was a small pause before she spoke again. "I actually totally forgot, maybe in like four months we'll be able to come? I've made alot of plans, I'm so sorry sis."

I had to take a deep shaky breath away from the phone before speaking again. "Oh well, it's okay, I mean four months is nothing right?"

She either chose to ignore the disappointment in my voice or didn't hear it at all. "Right!? But you know, if you could miss some money, mom and dad they're like trying to plan this thing for their 25th anniversary and I'm like all out..."

"I- ehm sure! How much do you need?"

"Oh thanks little sis!"

Brianna had to go pretty quickly after that, like she did most of the time after she'd asked for money. I told myself she wasn't using me and that she really did want to come over one day, but the fact that her Facebook posts are full of diners and trips with her friends when she tells me she hasn't even got the time to call me once a week. I just felt like I wasn't important to her anymore, sure she had her son and everything, but she hadn't visited me in over two years. Even when I offered to come over, she'd always have some excuse and I never called her out on it, afraid to hear the truth. Nobody wanted me there, because I wasn't who they'd wanted me to be. My parents were apparently celebrating their 25th anniversary and no one had thought to tell me, not even Brianna, until she needed money... she hadn't even invited me just now. Maybe they were just glad I was gone, maybe me leaving had been for the best.

I turned off the kettle and threw the water away, not really feeling like noodles anymore. I read some of the pieces in the paperwork before huddling up into the fluffy blanket on the couch and falling asleep with the TV on, my perfectly made bed once again left untouched.

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The next morning I packed some functional clothing and a few items of unused make-up, in case I needed them for a party or something. Despite already being pretty much invisible, I always wanted to make sure I'd fit in just right, so no one would actually strike up a conversation with me. I was going to switch to the Twilight Universe today and I was not feeling like it, it would probably take me about three weeks to fix this all up and that wasn't what I was looking forward to when I got back from my break. Switching is what we called the traveling between universes, it was painless for the most part and usually lasted only seconds. We wore some safety goggles to protect our eyes from any flying particles, but that was about the only safety gear we needed. You're probably wondering why this job pays so well or even exists, I know I sure did at the beginning, I was pretty sure I was being scammed the first few weeks. I mean I wasn't allowed on missions and they were all talking about these fictional characters like they were real, I thought I'd been caught up in some reality TV prank show and would have to return home with my head hanging.

To keep it simple, all the universes are somehow connected. The governments keep in touch and whenever something in the primary story line goes wrong, bad stuff could happen? I don't know exactly what would happen, but I guess when a universe is centered around a certain amount of people and depending on their actions, when those people aren't doing what they're supposed to do, it all goes down the drain. I've even heard whispers that it's because some universes would implode if the story line got too out of hand. But we're just the ones that fix the tiny mistakes, the Switchers, we're not really let in on the serious reasons and science behind it. No one in the outside world knows of this building and what we do, except some very high up politicians who keep an eye on what we actually do. None of the workers know who they are, but then again, maybe some managers do.

Coming in for work felt different that day, my hands were sweaty and shaky. I rolled my suitcase behind me and shrugged my backpack further onto my shoulders, it may have been too much but this was a big trip. I opened the door to the Switchroom with my personalized code, it clinked and creaked open and once again the sight of the inside didn't help my nerves. It was a special bunker-ish tiny square room, all four walls were of grey cement with what seemed like black singe marks here and there. In the middle stood a big metal chair, screwed into the cemented floor and taking up most of the space in the room, luckily there was just enough room left for me to fit my suitcase beside me and place the backpack on my lap. I took the Switching device out of my pocket, this was also made of metal, quite heavy in the hand. I think it was made to look like a pendant, oval shaped and decorated with some edged in swirls. To use it, you had to open it from the side and type in the same personalized code I used for the doors in the building. The letters lit up red so you could see them while wearing your safety goggles, which had very dark glasses.

I pressed the backpack against my chest with my arm, holding the Switcher in that hand, while using the other one to squeeze the handle of my suitcase. The metal of the chair felt cold against my back and legs, I shivered and quickly typed in my code, just wanting to get it over with quickly.

Switching between universes wasn't as exciting as it sounded, even though I was nervous every time. It really felt like gravity just loosens its hold on you for a short couple of seconds, like the feeling you get in your stomach when the elevator goes down too quickly, that over your whole body. So you're basically feeling like you're mid air at one moment and sitting in a strange chair in a house the next. Some call it the safe-house, some call it the guesthouse, what you wanted to make of it really. The house is probably the same every time, but the placement of it depends on your importance in the main story. So the closer you are to a main character or event, the more work you'll have in store for you. It was usually furnished with some hand me downs regular Switchers dragged over there at some point and everything gets stored carefully whenever someone leaves, like the furniture is covered and the fridge is emptied, that sorta stuff. Depends on if the universe is popular though, if there's alot of Switcher traffic they could just leave it as is.

But that's pretty much all you can expect when it comes to help in said universe; a roof over your head. There's not any help after that, you don't get woven into the story (despite some colleagues always swearing they knew someone who was written in) and you don't get some great undercover alibi, unless you make one yourself. I mean I get it though, we are background characters. We have depend on the fact that we go unnoticed, sometimes things take a bad turn and you get in trouble, but you could always Switch out of it if you really needed to. Safest is to go unnoticed and let that just be one of my specialties in life.

When I took off my safety goggles I was met with an equally dark room, so I quickly got up and stumbled around for the light switch. As soon as I found it, it took the lights a while to flicker on and I soon realized no-one had clearly been here in quite a while. The plastic keeping the furniture clean was covered in a thick layer of dust and anything that wasn't protected by the plastic hadn't been spared, the floor was a mess and I dreaded going upstairs, just imagining what bedroom must smell and feel like. I cleared the floor to the kitchen, finding this was also more dust than furniture and carefully moved two of the wooden blinds apart to peek out the window, curious as to where I'd even ended up and perhaps even daring to hope I wasn't in the middle of the woods somewhere. I hmm'd in content when I found I was placed on a street with more houses, skimming over the neighborhood, my body stiffened. Right across the road from me was a police cruiser. "It can't be," I whispered in slight horror.

That couldn't be Bella's house, right? I never heard of anyone being placed this close to a main character, to _the_ main character, let stand it'd happen to me.

A man got out of the cruiser and for a moment I was relieved, because I convinced myself that wasn't Charlie, it wasn't, he was... he seemed taller though? The officer got into the house and only seconds later something got out of the window on the side of the house, a white blur moving from the tree to the ground and into the forest. "Ohhh no no no no," I mumbled to myself, still staring out between the blinds. "No no no no no."

The person who'd gone into the woods came back, looked around and blurred his was into the tree and then the house again. "That's Edward Cullen, isn't it?" I moaned miserably.

I stood there in shock for a few more moments before being able to move again. In a daze I carefully got rid of the plastic on the couch and sat down with the papers I'd brought in my backpack. There had to be a very good reason for me to be _here_ , at this particular place, it couldn't just be a coincidence right? There was nothing wrong in the chapters as of right now, I quickly read through the part I just saw and there was nothing I had to do... But there was a big event coming up which had me stressed out immediately. "Please don't send me with them to that island," I whispered to myself, closing my eyes. I was unable to imagine how I would talk myself into coming with them and not ruin anything in that process, if I even _managed_ to tag along that is!

The jet lag from the Switch and the worry about what was about to come suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks and I realized four hours had gone by already since I'd gotten to the safe house. I took a blanket from the hallway closet and lay it out on the couch. It was stuffy and dusty, but I didn't feel like sleeping upstairs by myself without being able to hear some noise except the trees around the house. I turned on the TV which thankfully worked fine and put on some Comedy Central, like I would at home. I was gone as soon as my head hit the small couch pillow.

 _"You knew this would happen and you didn't say anything!?" Edward snarled at me, his teeth bare. He crouched down and I whimpered, my back hitting the brick wall of the Cullen's home._

 _"I'm sorry! I'm not allowed to say anything, everything will be alright!" I cried out, covering my face with my arms._

 _"Bella is dead because of you," Jacob's huge trembling form entered the room, his face even scarier than Edwards._

 _Jacob phased and Edward launched himself at me. He grabbed my arm and hauled me up-_

My eyes flew open and I sat up, panting with my heart pounding away against my chest. Sweat was dripping down the nape of my neck and the side of my face, I ran a shaky hand through my hair before wiping it away. "Holy shit, what was that?"

I didn't have time to recover however, the mailbox outside clattered loudly and I squealed like a pig, falling off the couch in the process of flailing. Sitting in a daze I thought back to my nightmare and I was relieved to find I was absolutely fine, none of it was real. It was a horrible awakening but at least I wasn't being attacked by a heartbroken vampire and his shape shifting nemesis. That was a freaky dream, I'd never had any nightmares of missions, my nerves were getting to me. I had to calm down and settle in, I was going to be here for at least three weeks, five at most, I hoped. The house needed some cleaning, so I decided I'd start with that and get to the real work tomorrow, according to the date there wasn't anything for me to do until the day after tomorrow. It took a while for me to get up from the floor, not at all feeling like cleaning all the mess but when I opened up the fridge of which the light flickered on dimly I knew I really had to. Someone had been so _kind_ to stash the fridge, probably not realizing no-one would be here for a while. I think the tomatoes in there would be ready to get out of the fridge on their own if they'd stayed in there for a few more days.

I decided to start upstairs, so I filled a bucket with hot water and some soap. I scrubbed the every surface I could think of, ridding it of dust and cobwebs. After that I washed all the blanket I'd slept under and all the other bedding that had been waiting in the bedroom closet. Meanwhile I cleaned the bathroom before moving down the stairs with my broom and mob in hand, following the advice my mother had always given me. Clean up to bottom. I took a short break after making the bed upstairs and then made sure the living room and the kitchen were spotless. If there was anything I hated more than getting shitty missions, it was a messy house.

* * *

The house was alright, it was strange how the person who'd been here before me had taken the time to cover all the furniture and store everything carefully but still filled up the fridge for everything to go bad. Also weird she'd left what seemed to be her whole wardrobe in the closet. It wasn't unusual for people forget some things, especially if you've been on a mission for a while and have made the safe house a second home, but a whole closet full was something I hadn't seen yet. Even though I found it extremely odd, I shrugged it off, maybe they had left it here on purpose.

After slaving all day and cleaning this whole damn house by myself, I was ready to take a shower and get into a clean fresh bed when I remembered the mailbox noise from this morning.

It was already dark outside with only the tiniest bit of sound from the trees, their leaves rustling in the wind. Standing in the big t-shirt and bright pink rain boots, I opened the mailbox as quiet as possible, afraid to somehow attract the attention of either Bella or Charlie... or any other living/dead being for that matter. I peeked inside to check for spiderwebs or other nasty things before sticking my hand in, I quickly grabbed the envelope and walked back to the front door, using the porch light to see what it was for. "Weird," I mumbled, turning the envelope over. "I've never gotten mail at a safe house before."

Rain started pouring down, the drops sounding like rocks on roof.

"An invitation?" I opened the envelope and my fingers froze around the paper inside it. "Isabella Marie Swan and Edward Anthony Masen Cullen?"


	2. A wedding, some vampires and a couple of

**Hi!**

 **Nice to see you decided to read the first chapter, I hope you'll like it!  
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 _"We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master."_

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 **Chapter one: A wedding, some vampires and a couple of shapeshifters.**

When my alarm went off I didn't even jump like I usually did, I hadn't been able to fully fall into the peaceful abyss of sleep all night. So when I opened my eyes to the alarm, I stared at the ceiling for a while in annoyance before getting up and taking a shower. The invitation downstairs on the kitchen table was a thorn in my thoughts, while I tried to assure myself it had been a mistake and only came in handy, I found it highly suspicious and too good to be true. Nothing like this ever happened to me, I was always the one having to go the extra mile to get things done, I didn't get stuff like this handed to me. After getting dressed, I managed to ease my mind a little, maybe luck was on my side this one time? What was the harm in an invitation, the post-office made mistakes all the time and that's just what it had been... A mistake that worked out for me.

Downstairs I combed through my hair and laid out all the markers and sticky-notes I'd brought to start finding some mistakes I had to fix. If I was going to that wedding, which probably hasn't been a choice for me to make since I got here, I had to come up with a perfect plan. I had to find out the details of the mistake and think of how I could make it not happen or fill it up myself, which was risky, so I'd rather have everything going according to the original story line. The thought of attracting attention at a vampire wedding had a shiver run down my spine, I just wanted to go in and out. The motto here is ; Quick, silent and efficient. Sticking to that, I'd make it out alive, have everyone have their happy ending and I would be back at the office for a nice mission just in time. It was the perfect game plan, if I may say so myself.

"Cue 378," I huffed, pushing my glasses higher up my nose. "The Denali coven gets in some sort of trouble at the wedding, causing Edward _and_ Bella to miss Jacob's arrival."

I let out a relieved sigh, that wasn't too much of a problem, I could just have someone talk to Bella, keeping her from going with Edward. She'd be there to get called for Jacob's visit and everything, including the honeymoon would be fine. You're probably wondering why all these little things are important, but since Bella is supposed to get pregnant at the exact location and time everything had to be like the original story line. If it didn't we could actually end up with the son Bella dreamt of and Jacob would never imprint, the wolves would go to war with the Cullens or they would leave them be only for the Volturi to slaughter them a few months later. No one knows what would have happened if the wolves hadn't been there, they most certainly played into the fact that there wasn't a full blown fight. My mind might be taking this too far, but you probably get my point. I was going to make sure Bella would meet Jacob at the right time, so no one in the future of this book would die an untimely death.

Piece of cake right?

As the day of the wedding crept closer, I got more nervous with every hour even though I had everything planned and figured out. I had a background story, I had an invitation, I knew how to get there. I had all the advantages because I knew what was going to happen and what I had to do to keep everything perfect! Nerves were a regular occurrence for me but the intensity of them now was through the roof, I now hadn't slept in two days and felt like a walking corpse. During the day I took several stress filled naps, never really falling asleep, always lingering somewhere in between. My mind was working overtime and in an effort to calm myself, I wrote down all the possible and some impossible scenarios. For all of them I had managed to think of a solution, so there was no way it wouldn't go the way I wanted it to go... Everything would be just fine. Just let me get some rest, so I at least looked somewhat human when I had to mingle with the people.

After I finally slept a full 12 hours, I felt rested the next day. I looked in the bathroom mirror and practiced meeting people, what if they noticed me? I'd smile and say. "Oh I'm Bridget, I go to Forks High school. Yeah, I'm a junior..." I decided to lie about being a junior, being a senior would give too many people the chance to say 'Oh hey I never met you,' or 'I didn't see you at the graduation' or 'You're not in the yearbook'. So I was 17, instead of 18 and I moved to Forks a few months ago, my parents were still busy with work in Seattle so they weren't around much. Seemed like a plausible enough story to me.

When my hair had dried up into its usual frizzy state I did my best to tame it with a straightening iron, it did the job well enough for me to feel a little more comfortable, knowing I wouldn't be the odd one out. The more 'normal' I looked, the less attention I'd get from anyone at the wedding, giving me the perfect opportunity to make the whole Bella and Jacob thing go well. I did my make up for the first time in months and I had to say, I enjoyed prettying up again. I used to always wear some sort of make up, but since I'd been on missions on a more than regular basis I let it be. I chose a long dress, one that had been way too long before I shortened it. I had adjusted the length back at home for it to look nice when I wore heals, but I wanted to wear my sneakers now, in case I had to, you know, outrun an angry vampire or shapeshifter. Not that... I'd actually be able to, but you get my point. The dress hid them perfectly, even though without heals in a flowy dress, I felt like a sack of potatoes.

Long dresses were a short girl's worst enemy.

I felt slightly uncomfortable outside, feeling extremely overdressed since I had to take the bus to the nearest bus stop near the Cullen's home. I rummaged through my purse before leaving the home, making sure I had everything I needed which in this case was just my Switchers and the invitation. I walked to the bus with my stomach already churning at the thought of being surrounded by vampires who could kill me at the drop of a hat. The bus stopped in front of me and I took a deep breath, I was doing this and I was going to be fine. Everything was going to be fine. "You getting on or what?" The bus driver asked, annoyed that I was lingering.

"Oh yeah! Sorry," I smiled sheepishly, waiting for him to give me a ticket. He handed it to me, not really looking back while I gave him the money in return.

He started driving again before I got to a seat and I awkwardly stumbled backwards a few steps, just by pure chance and perhaps luck, missing the bottom of my dress. When I managed to sit down at a window seat I dabbed at my forehead with a tissue, sweat of the anxiety already forming a problem. Was I more afraid of the vampires or the fact that I was going to be surrounded by a whole crowd of people? I had no idea what had me so riled up, but I had to calm down before I got there or I'd attract too much attention to myself. Nothing to worry about Bridget! You are basically invisible, a nobody, no one will even remember you were there, no one will talk to you. You'll be alright. The bus driver didn't really pay attention to me, nor did the other people in the bus when I stumbled. I'm unnoticeable, I'll go in and go out. "Quick, silent and efficient." I chanted to myself, still eerily waiting for the bus stop I had to get off at.

My parents had always found me a little odd, I was shy, quiet and awkward unlike my older sister. They pushed me to hang out with her and her friends, forced me to join sports I had no talent for and after all the effort I put in, that still wasn't enough. Eventually they accepted it, but that acceptance eventually turned into isolating me. They wouldn't ask me to join them to dinner or trips, whenever one of them brought me up another would say 'No, I'm sure Bridget would rather stay at home' and I'd nod. I didn't want to force myself in, they didn't really seem to enjoy my company, it was more a must. My grades at school started to lower and eventually it was clear I wasn't the genius they thought I'd become through all my reading. It wasn't that I didn't get school, I just found it uninteresting. I wanted to live a life that was different and like many teenage girls I dreamed of being swept away by Legolas or Merlin, to go on adventures and being appreciated for the way I was. People actually wanting to hang out with me, because they liked me.

It might seem strange that I dreamed of being a main character and then took on a job that meant I'd always be in the background, but it was perfect for me. The idols I looked up to, I saw them in real life, not the actors from the movies, but the real characters. When Sam Winchester saved me from a collapsing haunted hotel, he probably didn't remember me the next day but I felt like I was worth a million bucks right there. Being in the background was worth seeing them, meeting them, even if they'd forget about you. Their kindness was all I ever dreamed of them being and it satisfied me, knowing that they'd been worth all those hours I spend daydreaming. My fear of rejection was never a problem, because I never got close enough to even get rejected by them. I was in the perfect middle.

"Next stop!" The bus driver yelled through the almost empty bus.

"I'll be fine, I'll do good." I whispered to myself, straightening my shoulders.

I stared ahead at the road I had to walk, feeling a little defeated. But I was glad I had worn my sneakers, I could walk off my nerves for a bit and maybe get to the wedding without having sweat off all the make up I'd put on. While walking I checked my purse again. "Invitation, check. Emergency Switch, check. Not the emergency Switch, also check."

Taking a deep breath I looked ahead and took determent steps to the sign of the wedding, which grew bigger the closer I got. I was still nervous, but I had everything I could need, if anything went wrong now, there was nothing I could have done. The woods around me were quiet, except for the sound of people talking in the distance, probably the noise of the wedding guests. I followed the path next to the highway, keeping an eye on the cars passing by and turning to the right at when I finally reached the sign. I had a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach, somehow I couldn't shake the thought that something was about to happen and being alone next to rows of trees with rustling bushes didn't ease any of my paranoia. The sound of the crowd close by had my heart beating so loudly, it almost dominated my hearing, not comprehending what the guy at the entrance said. In fact, not even noticing he was there.

"You okay?"

I jumped and clutched the invitation to my chest, slowly looking up at the huge, bear-like man standing next to me. I nodded quickly and handed him the piece of laminated paper, chanting to myself in my head that I was fine, this was just a procedure he had to go through. He wasn't as worried as I was, not even looking at the invitation before putting it back into my trembling hand. He grinned at me, his straight white teeth gleaming. "You go to our school?"

Managing a squeaky sound of agreement and a curt nod, I hoped, no prayed, he'd just let me through.

His grin didn't falter and he just nodded. "Okay cool, just take a seat wherever in the back. The front's for close family members."

Tightly clutching my purse I hesitated as to what I should do, all the other guests had already formed their little groups, sitting together or standing in a circle talking about the decor. I took a seat somewhere in the back, like the guy at the opening told me, but couldn't just stay seated as the only loner, it would attract unwanted attention, maybe I could try to mingle a little... I hesitantly walked up to the table with drinks and small appetizers. There was another awkward looking girl standing there, so I tried to start a little small talk, while casually browsing over the table. "S-so the decor is beautiful right?"

The girl looked at me and gave me a little smile. "It is. They must have had to do alot of the work on their own."

"Y-yeah, probably." I shut down, scrambling through my brain for something to say to keep the conversation going.

"Are you... new here?" She suddenly asked and I met her questioning eyes.

I let out an awkward laugh, making myself cough in the process. "Wh- I? No, I, ehm sort of. I moved here two, I mean I guess a couple of months ago..."

She let out a laugh and handed me a drink, to cope with my coughing. "Ohh right, well I'll see you around! Have fun!"

"I- thanks!" I said miserably, softly kicking at a small rock on the ground. The girl met up with an older guy in a wheelchair and a younger looking man, I wondered if that were Billy and Seth for a moment. I cringed at my own horrible social skills, that couldn't have gone any worse than it went, if anything she thought I crazy or at least strange. Perhaps mingling wasn't the best idea if I didn't want to stand out, I should just sit in my chair and wait for the ceremony to start. While sitting there, by myself, I looked around for people I recognized by their description in the books. Seth was pushing Billy's wheelchair around while also observing all the guests, Jasper and Alice were going around talking to all the guests and Rosalie was standing by the house with her arms crossed, probably upset something didn't go her way. I heard Jessica complain about Mike's drooling and spotted the Denali coven as well, Edward was talking to them, looking quite handsome might I add. They all looked as beautiful and perfect as described in the books, but knowing they could actually kill you with the flick of her finger had the romantic in me simmer down a little.

The big guy from the entrance had joined the party and was standing in front of the ceremonial stage, looking at me while I sat by myself. I suddenly realized he must have been Emmet and that did not ease my mind one bit. _"Act normal,"_ I forced another smile while all I wanted to do was run like hell.

"The ceremony is about to start, if everyone would like to take a seat." A beautiful young woman whom I assumed was Esme said, smiling widely. I was relieved, since I wouldn't be to odd one out anymore if everyone was sitting down.

The guests gathered around and sat down on the chairs around me, I put my purse under my chair when we all had to get up again to welcome the bride. The music started playing and I felt a bit sorry for Bella, knowing how nervous she'd be. I could only imagine how I would feel, having to walk down this isle, knowing everyone was judging you and jealous of you. Only a few of the people there were actually happy they were getting married, but I guess it was enough to know those people were enjoying themselves, they were all that mattered right? I watched her come into sight and felt a strange sense of emotion, realizing Bella would finally get her happy ending. She looked beautiful in her white gown, her pale skin complimenting her slightly auburn hair and dark eyes. Maybe it was the make-up or the dress but I couldn't help but think Bella looked alot prettier than I would have made her out to be from the book's description.

Their ceremony was beautiful, the way they looked at each other, the emotions on Edwards face. I briefly remembered why I'd liked Twilight so much in those young teenage years. I had been lost in this world where the supernatural being came into a teen girl's mundane life and swooped her up into adventure and love, passion without forcing her into anything. All he wanted was to marry her and now the moment was there, Edward looked absolutely smitten, he loved her more than anything in the world and we were able to feel that through Bella's eyes. When they kissed and all the guests clapped, my fantasy was over and the anxiety came back to awaken me from my daydream-like state and hit me like a boulder in the head, now the fun was over and the actual work had to start. While everyone gathered to get some food, dance or to just chat, I felt wildly out of place and was constantly checking if Emmet hadn't sneaked up on me. He wasn't as dim as I'd thought he was, he had kept an eye on me from afar all this time. What if the vampires here were able to notice I was different? That I didn't belong? I looked at Edward and Bella as they went from guest to guest and my heart dropped.

 _"Edward can read minds,"_ I thought, as my eyes grew wide in horror. Yet, even as I thought this, there was no reaction from him whatsoever. I bumped my fist against my chest a couple of times, trying to keep my breathing under control. _"No worries, it's busy here, he can't do anything to me here even if he could hear my thoughts."_

I was trying to keep my distance from Emmet when my ears picked up on Jessica, Angela and Mike discussing the cake. My eyes widened and I gave myself the 'you can do it' speech. This was it, my cue to make sure Bella would meet Jacob at the back of the house, this was the moment I came for. As soon as I had this figured out and done I could go back to the safe house and leave this experience behind. Quick, silent and efficient. Edward and Bella were still happily meeting with the cousins, nothing seemed the matter until I noticed one of them standing at the back, staring at Seth and Billy. _"Irena,"_ My heart sped up in anticipation, was she the one going to cause trouble? Should I just try and distract her?

But as soon as the thought crossed my mind, there seemed to be some sort of discussion as Irena came forward to Bella and Edward, she started raising her voice. "How dare you do this to me?" Her sisters hushed her and took both of her arms, carefully leading her away from the married couple. Edward shook his head and said something to Bella, she nodded and he left to follow the three sisters. She wanted to follow him but now it was my mission to make sure she didn't.

"Cue," I whispered to myself, making my way towards Bella. "H-hi," I said, sounding like I'd just smoked fifty cigars. I cleared my throat. "Congratulations Bella, I'm so happy for you!"

I tried to make it seem like I knew her better than I actually did, hoping she'd go with it, thinking she'd just forgotten who I was. The questioning look in her eyes, followed by a hint of guilt in her smile had me almost cheer in victory; part one was complete. "Thank you so much," She said, looking around awkwardly.

"I eh I'm sorry to bother you but there was someone at the back of the house asking for you," I said, pointing to the back of the house. "He said he couldn't really join the party, but he needed to see you? Maybe you should take Edward and-"

"Jacob?" Bella asked, her face lighting up.

She right away rushed towards where I'd pointed, forgetting all about my suggestion to take Edward. He had to be there as well, just in case things escalated. "No worries, I'll just get him myself." I hesitantly said to myself, swallowing loudly as the chaos of my plan not working so well was starting to get to me. I looked around and froze, Edward was no where to be seen. "Ohhh come on." I turned around to catch a glimpse of Bella rushing around the corner.

"I'll just keep an eye on them from a distance," I said to myself, taking a deep breath and doing my best to inconspicuously make my way towards the house, carefully keeping an eye on Emmet, who was also nowhere to be seen at that moment. When I reached the house I carefully peeked around the corner only to catch Bella and Jacob embracing in between the trees. _"Poor guy,"_ I thought, seeing his hopeful smile as he thought he'd be able to sway her away from her new husband still. They spoke a little awkwardly before embracing again and slowly dancing to the music, I wiped off the small drops of sweat that had formed on my forehead. Everything seemed fine and dandy, it was going perfectly, nothing to worry about. You did fine Bridget. I sighed in relief and decided to take one last look before getting out of this, to me, hellish wedding. I peeked around and was glad to see they were still dancing and was about to turn around when they abruptly stopped and Bella's face was teary as she looked up at him. They exchanged some words and Jacob's face started to twist into an ugly snarl.

"Listen to me Bella," He said loudly, sounding extremely desperate.

"Please don't," I whispered in horror, looking back at the party to find Edward, but still no sight of that guy. "For the fastest member of the family, he's real damn slow!" I whisper shouted to myself in a panic.

Meanwhile I looked back to find Bella trying to pull away from the angry shapeshifter. "Jake, you're hurting me. Let me go!"

He reluctantly let go of her arm and I once again, sighed in relief, hoping it was over now. But out of nowhere, he shouted at her. "Are you crazy!? He'll kill you!"

Suddenly Seth came running from around the house and grabbed Jacob by the shoulders, trying to force him back into the bushes. Jacob pushed Seth off and he bumped hard into Bella, who fell down pretty roughly in the process. I gasped, and took a step forward, out of my safe shadowy hiding place. The two guys looked up at me with huge eyes, Seth looking kind of scared while Jacob's face slowly twisted into something like an unrecognizable snarl. I was caught, what should I do? Run? Hide? My eyes fell on Bella, who was still in shock on the ground so I decided to use her as my escape. "Oh Bella! Are you alright? Did you fall down?"

My acting... could probably use some work, I know.

She looked around at me and nodded, her face still a little shocked. I came closer and helped her up, dusting the leaves and dirt off her dress. "D-do you want to go back to the party?" I asked, nervously eyeing the scared and the angry giants behind us. Bella gave me a quiet yes, not looking back while we walked back to the party, leaving the two men on the ground behind us. I guess they thought they were lucky I didn't show up a few moments later to see them phase into wolves. She hesitantly touched my shoulder once we got back. "Thank you-"

Then Edward appeared out of nowhere, making me jump. "Bella, are you alright?"

 _"Oh now he shows up,"_ I thought, narrowing my eyes at him.

"Y-yeah, I just- Jacob..." She trailed off and looked at me again.

I blinked and looked from her to Edward. "Ehh, I-I don't really know what happened, I walked in on her sitting on the floor and all..."

"Are you alright?" Edward asked Bella again, cupping her face in his hands.

 _"Aaaaaaand I'm outta here,"_ I took a few steps back and when they didn't turn to look at me, I walked away from the party. I don't think my heart ever beat harder than the moment I made my way away from the party, turning my back on one of the most dangerous predators in this world. It was the feeling you got when you walk up the stairs in the dark, the silence ringing in your ears and your feet jerking fast while walking as if something's nipping at them. Wanting to get home to look into the papers, I hurriedly got on the next bus. I was worried sick I had ruined something, also wondering if it had even been normal Emmet had kept an eye on me and all the characters seemed to easily take notice of me. I wasn't used to getting eye-contact, even whenever I spoke to someone it took them a while to comprehend I was there but everyone at the party looked at me, answered me right away, they actually _saw_ me. As soon as I got home I hurried into my paperwork to see if it had changed at all, but not before I checked all the windows and locked the front and back doors, my paranoia getting the better of me.

"Okay, 'Jacob and Bella meet at the back of the house, Jacob is about to phase when one of guests comes out of nowhere' hehe," I chuckled at my 'appearance''in the story. " 'Both wolves freeze and look at each other, Jacob is enraged-' "

 _ **Boom boom boom**_

I yelled out in a panic, my papers flying everywhere over the table and the room. " _What the hell_?" I whisper yelled to myself, fearfully looking over at the kitchen window. " _Who's here to visit me_?"

"W-who is it?" I asked, carefully peeping through the blinds. "I-I'm sorta busy right now."

"You forgot your purse at the wedding," A voice said, rattling something for me to hear.

I opened the blinds and the window slightly, wearily taking in my unwanted guest. "How'd you know where I live?"

"I looked into the purse for an address?" He said, his voice obvious while I was pretty sure I didn't anything in that purse with _this_ address on it.

"Emmet Cullen?" I asked quietly, pulling down some of the blinds far enough to see him through the window. His grin was blinding as he held up what seemed to be my purse indeed. "Wait a second, I'll come to the door." I made sure the door was on the safety chain and just barely managed to wring my arm through the slit. He put the purse in my hand, his icy fingers lightly brushing my skin an making scary shivers run up my spine. "Thanks," I said, before closing the door again.

A few seconds later a car drove off and I felt safe enough to breath and move to the living room, but not before looking out of the kitchen window, just in case. I let myself fall onto the couch, letting out a deep sigh and rubbing my eyes. How could I have been so stupid? I left my purse over there, with both of my Switchers at the wedding, what if they had gotten stolen? Granted, no one would know what to do with them as they don't know the code but I would still be left without them! I rummaged through the purse with my eyes still closed, trying to grab onto them, but no mater what corner my fingers searched I didn't meet with the cold metal of the Switchers. My eyes shot open and I looked inside, shaking the purse and it's contents up a bit in hope of catching a glimpse of one of them but with no such luck. I jumped up and turned the purse upside down above the table, everything fell out and I frantically grabbed a hold of everything, hastily inspecting it but the metal buttons weren't anywhere on the table. My eyes started tearing up as I went through the house, searching every drawer, pocket and crevice but never finding any of them.

"Why'd I put them both in there anyways," I cried out, throwing the empty purse off the table in anger. "C-calm down," I whispered through the tears. "Eventually they'll send the supervisor to see how the whole process is going anyways."

When I turned on the TV for some background noise, the fear in the back of my head simmered down a little bit. I ran both my hands through my hair, taking a deep breath. " _But why would someone take my switch buttons? No one here should know what they are."_

Until deep in the morning I was re-arranging the stacks of papers I'd scattered around the room in the process of trying to find something that made sense. It was another sleepless night for me.


	3. Strange Phonecalls

**Chapter 2. Strange phone calls.**

I tried to stay in the house as much as possible, afraid that Emmet or any of the other Cullens for that fact, would show up. There was someone who had known of my Switchers, otherwise they wouldn't steal such useless buttons right? It seemed like the safest choice to be inside, but the longer I stayed inside the house, the more difficult it became to leave. I was lost at best, purely desperate at worst. The wedding had haunted me these past few weeks, how many weeks had it even been? Two? Three?Sitting in the bathtub for hours, my skin got wrinkled and the water turned cold. I was waiting, waiting for Ellen or just anyone at that, to visit me so I could tell them about the strange occurrences and for them to take me home. But nobody had showed up yet, something which was also suspicious since I was supposed to send them info via the switch, updates on the story. They should have noticed my absence by now right? Has no one missed me or wondered why I took so long? Of course not, I was invisible, even in the real world.

My trembling fingers followed the lines in the bathroom tiles for what seemed like the hundredth time when I felt the strong urge to get out. I had to get out and just think of what my next step would be, I couldn't live here forever and they wouldn't leave me here forever. I got dressed in something comfortable and warm, ready to go out and just explore a bit. I had to get out or I would really go mad, maybe I'd go to La Push, see the ocean and feel some sand on my feet, yeah that'd do me good. Once outside I noticed, what I assumed, was Edward's car by Charlie's house. "Did he leave that when they went on the honey moon?" I wondered out loud, peering into Charlie's house from the road, trying to figure out who had visited him using Edward's car. I wasn't really able to see who was inside but I thought nothing of it, I had messily, but still fixed the problem. Bella and Edward went on their honeymoon as planned, no worries, everything was fine right now.

When I got to the bus it took about 20 minutes before I got to the only stop in La Push and I still had to walk through the town to get to the beach. I wandered around the quiet streets, only passing about 5 people, none that I would recognize from the books. I stopped in front of the window of what seemed to be a small tourist shop, dream-catchers and woodcarvings were spread around the display and I was tempted to go in but told myself I shouldn't. You see, taking souvenirs from other universes was against the rules, but it really only meant you couldn't take important items, like you _cannot_ take Gandalf's staff with you. Shocker, who would have thought? Seemed pretty obvious to me but things like that still happened to this day, some people just couldn't help themselves when they get to their ideal universe, but there's been girls who actually tried to kidnap the Winchester brothers, so... I guess taking the staff wasn't the worst thing that could happen to a universe. Those people got fired of course, they mingled with the story so much and were a danger to all of us, because our main strength was that no one knew we existed.

I noticed I got closer to the beach by the smell of the ocean and the sand, following the sound of the waves I finally reached it. I sat down on the slightly dampened sand, looking out to the unruly ocean and wondering if fish saw this as some kind of storm or if they didn't even noticed it. Would they have dolphins here? I wondered about life in the ocean, maybe I could get a mission as a mermaid next time or did that fall under Supernatural? They got changed into the most fantasy creatures, depending on the universe of course, seemed fun, better than all this mundane stuff I got stuck with most of the time. What could I even do here while Bella and Edward were on their honeymoon? Jacob was...well who knows where, hopefully not causing any trouble and at the same time not being too depressed about losing Bella. Neither the books nor the movies touched much on the other characters while Bella and Edward were gone, so I assumed I'd have to wait for them to come back and then try to fix new problems that might occur when the story line started moving again.

"You're the girl from the party," A voice said, scaring me from my train of thought. I fell on my side onto the sand and a tiny high pitched shriek escaped my lips. Slapping a hand in front of my mouth I turned around with the speed of light to find it was just Seth Clearwater, who looked like _I_ 'd spooked _him_ instead of the other way around.

"W-what?" I frowned slightly, not remembering what he'd said because of the shock.

He shifted from one leg to the other and scratched the back of his head. "Sorry. I mean, you were at the wedding. Remember? I was with Jake and Bella at the back of the house?"

I looked around and realized we were alone on the beach, why had he come over? Why was this character seeking such unnecessary contact with me? "Ehm yeah," I answered awkwardly, remembering he wanted me to acknowledge what he'd said.

"So eh, you know nothing happened right? Jake- the other guy, he was mad because Bella is his best friend, he didn't want her to make bad choices."

I blinked a couple of times, he came over to discuss the situation? He was acting strange, but I wasn't sure if it was out of character. I decided to make him feel at ease about it, hoping he'd leave as quickly as he showed up. "You don't have to explain it to me, I just happened to see her fall."

"Right," Seth said, looking around for a moment and then nervously clapping his hands together. "Maybe you shouldn't walk around here alone, it'll get dark soon."

I looked at my watch out of habit and raised a confused eyebrow. "B-but it's 3 pm?"

"It gets dark around 4 because of the-the wintertime things,"...

"It's summer," I said, squinting my eyes slightly at him. Was it me or was he trying to get me to go? My eyes started tearing up, I took as a cue to leave. "Well, I-I had to get going anyways. It was nice...meeting you. I suppose."

"I-I'm sorry, I don't mean it like that. It's just-"

"He means it exactly like that, we don't appreciate outsiders hanging around here." A deeper voice entered the conversation and I looked up towards Jacob Black, in all his intimidating and shirtless glory. My jaw dropped, making a popping sound. He might have been handsome, it was hard to say when I'd only seen him with ugly snarls or scowls on his face.

"I-I didn't know," I said, my thoughts scrambling as I never remembered people from Forks not being allowed in La Push... Hadn't I passed a restaurant and a touristy shop on my way here as well? My voice went quiet as a mouse. "I'll just get going then,"

"Yeah, you do that." Jacob said, his face like a rock.

Seth smiled apologetically as I passed them but I couldn't muster up the courage to smile back with Jacob towering over me like an angry rain cloud about to burst. Once I'd passed the sand and walked onto solid ground, I wiped at my eyes to get rid of the gathering tears before looking behind me, to see if they were watching me leave, but the two shapeshifters were already gone. I was honestly shaken, Jacob's attitude was very out of character in my opinion. Of course he went through alot of changes in a short time span, from happy go lucky teen boy to serious-has to save his love interest- wolf, but still! I didn't think he'd be this v _icious_ to strangers. When I turned my head back around I saw that Jacob and Seth had joined, what I assumed was the rest of the pack. I jumped seeing they were all eyeing me, their expressions ranging from apologetic smiles to awkward shifting, trying their best not to look at me.

"I guess outsiders really aren't allowed," I mumbled to myself, nodding a little before quickly making my way out of there. Somewhere is the back of my head a bit of fear crept up my spine and I couldn't help but wonder if they could maybe feel that I didn't belong, with them being supernatural creatures and all. I was kind of disappointed in the pack, especially Jacob. When I was a hardcore Twilight fan, Jacob was my bias, I rooted for that guy until the last sentence of the freaking book. I couldn't wrap my head around it, Emmet Cullen had been suspicious of me, the wolves apparently didn't like me. How was I even supposed to do my job when the only person who didn't seem to pay me any attention was the one that nothing happened to in this entire book? Edward hadn't even as much as glanced at me, he didn't give a shit, why couldn't everyone just be this way? I didn't take this job expecting to have to talk to these people, I can barely make a doctor's appointment for myself! The rain clouds grew darker and I walked home with my head low, because of the rain but also because I was feeling absolutely miserable.

I looked up when I reached the house and froze, Edward, Bella and Charlie were standing there, looking at me. I looked over my shoulder, was there still time to turn around and make it seem like I just had to go the other way? Maybe if I walked past the house for now- "H-hi!" Bella spoke up, awkwardly waving at me.

I had to do my best to keep from moaning and stomping my foot, she recognized me, now I _had_ to talk to them. "Hey Bella, Edward, Chief Swan."

"Charlie," He corrected me, trying to smile but his awkward shifting ruined the gesture.

"Can I... help you?" I asked. "Is there something wrong? Did someone break in?"

Scared all of the sudden, I wondered if it had been the same person that had taken my Switchers, looking for my codes. But had someone from this universe broken in? What if they found my papers with the story on it? No, they wouldn't know it was real, they'd think it was fiction...very creepy fiction. Except if Edward or anyone else in that category read it, what if Edward has already read it? He could have broken in at least five times in the time I was panicking over here. What if Edward was reading my mind right now? I had to stop thinking of secret information! What should I think of? I was thinking of it!

Charlie held up his hands. "No-no! Nothing like that, we were just wondering if you'd like to eat dinner with us."

Edward finally spoke up, his smile as charming as you could imagine but I could only think of those sharp teeth he was flashing. "It's only polite to invite the new neighbors over, but it seems your parents aren't back from Seattle yet."

There was something in his voice, maybe it was my imagination but it sounded like a hint of disbelief. Oh who was I fooling? Of course every Cullen that heard me talk to that girl at the party had known I was lying, he could smell my farts from three days ago in that house today if he wanted to, he knew no one except for me had been in there. "I- uh, I don't know... I'm supposed to wait in the house for my-"

"Aren't you old enough to leave the house by yourself?" Edward asked, cocking his head slightly in mocked innocence. "You came to our wedding by yourself,"

I sighed, well, he was only being logical. What was the harm except for total humiliation and my bad people skills that would have me cringe for days after this? I really didn't want to- Wait a second, I looked from Edward to Bella, what were they doing back here already? Didn't they go on their honeymoon right away after the wedding? "Didn't you guys go on a honeymoon?" I asked, my body starting to tremble from the stress building up again.

"Bella decided she wanted to move out of Charlie's home properly before going on our honeymoon," Edward was talking smoothly but his face seemed to grow harder by the seconds. I wasn't saying too much was I?

"That's too bad," I said, staring him fearfully in the eye. I had to remember he was human, at least I had to act like I thought he was. "I-I guess I'll come over to meet my new neighbors, if I have to."

Bella beamed and clapped her hands together, a very Alice thing to do in my eyes. "Great!"

We walked across the street towards their home, it felt very awkward as Bella and Edward walked behind me, while I tried to stay as close to Charlie as possible. I hoped that somehow his presence would keep any luring vampires at bay and even though he didn't seem to mind, he did shoot me a few awkward glances a couple of times but I pretended I didn't notice. Once we got inside I automatically took off my shoes in the hallways and right away Edward raised his eyebrows at me. "You're not from around here, are you?"

I froze and had to do my best to keep from glaring, I'd practiced incredibly hard to get rid of my accent but of course he could pick it out. "Just from Seattle actually."

He made a small sound of acknowledgement but I knew he knew, I was lying and that made me incredibly nervous. Meanwhile Bella had started cooking dinner and I sat on the couch next to Charlie, with Edward in an armchair to my left. He was watching the baseball game with Charlie but now and then I got uncomfortable feeling that I was being watched, of course I never caught him in the act. Tension build up inside me and when the doorbell rang I jumped, making both Charlie and Edward chuckle. "Just the doorbell kid. I'll get it Bells!" He got up from the couch and I opened my mouth, wanting to say I'd open the door, anything to not be left alone with the vampire that could read my mind!

We sat in silence for a few moments while Charlie chatted happily to the person at the door.

"Do I make you uneasy?" Edward asked out of nowhere, making me jump.

"N-no, I'm just shy in general." That wasn't entirely a lie. "H-have you guys invited other neighbors?"

I was hoping they hadn't invited the rest of the Cullens. There'd be no reason for them to do that, but then there was no reason for them to blow off the honeymoon! What about Renesmee? The pregnancy, the imprinting, the Jacob- Cullen family bonding time? It was all ruined! There was no way in hell Bella would be able to get pregnant by exactly the same time and place for Renesmee to even come into existence now! Maybe that was why Jacob hated me, he was able to feel I ruined his one chance at getting over Bella and having a happy ever after. The one thing I had to get right and I blew it! "Oh no," I moaned, rubbing my temples.

"Are you alright?" A soft hand touched my shoulder and I looked up. "Do you have a headache?"

A middle aged woman stood in front of me, initially I couldn't really place her face anywhere, no real distinguishable marks or facial features I could recognize from the book's descriptions. Then Seth walked through the door, looking almost as awkward as me when he gave me a small wave. I looked back at the woman and then it clicked, this was probably Sue Clearwater, yeah, she got closer to Charlie after Harry's death of course. I shook my head at her earlier question. "No, I'm just a little tired, that's all."

She smiled in a way only some mothers could and held out her hand to me. "Sue Clearwater and this is my son, Seth."

"I-" _know_. I cut myself off, almost gave myself away as being a major creeper. "I'm Bridget...Andersen, nice to meet you. All of you by the way..." Better to be polite and greet all of them at once.

"Nice to meet you too," She chuckled and winked at me. "Well, I'm just going to see if Bella needs any help in the kitchen, you kids here get to know each other. _Seth_."

Seth, who had been trying to blend in with the wall behind the couch, looked up at his mom. "Huh? Yeah alright," he mumbled something after that but I wasn't quite sure what it was, but it sounded like 'You wanna have me killed'.

My forehead started to feel hot and I swallowed loudly, those wolves really had something against me. Amidst my fear attack I had an epiphany then and looked up at Edward, he seemed quite surprised but managed a smile when I spoke up. "I a-actually lost something of mine at your wedding, you think you've seen it? It's these two metal buttons, about this big." I held my hands about 10 centimeters apart.

He shook his head. "No we haven't found anything like that, that I know off. I could look around for you if you'd like, of course."

Relieve washed over me and I smiled, if he found them I could go back home and this horrible nightmare would be over. "Yes thank you! I would really appreciate that,"

"Are they important to you?" He asked, probably curious as to why I needed some pair of metal buttons.

"Yeah, I took them from home." I said, since that was the only thing I could say that wasn't a lie.

Charlie suddenly got up from the couch again. "I'll go see if the ladies are about done yet,"

"Oh no, I was about to check," Seth said, getting up also.

"Just sit down Seth, I'm already up now."

He sat down, looking extremely nervous and scared and thus making my nervous and scared in the process. Eventually I sat trembling on the couch, clenching my jaw tightly to keep them from chattering. Would the wolves come here? Do they see me as a threat? Were they planning on taking me out? What if the wolves found my buttons and something bad happened to one of them, they must think I'm some sort of witch or alien. "Listen Bridget," Seth said out of nowhere, sounding very serious.

My bottom lip trembled and I nervously twisted my hands together. "Y-yeah?"

"About that thing at the beach," He looked down at the ground, scratching the back of his head nervously. "We lied to you about outsiders not being allowed in La Push, I'm really sorry."

"I figured that," I mumbled, still twisting my fingers and tapping my foot. "I j-just wasn't going to agitate your ehm, your friend. He seemed really mad."

Seth hung his head slightly and didn't look at me when he spoke up again. "Jake just needs time to get over some stuff, then he'll be fine, you'll see. He's a really cool guy."

I looked towards the kitchen and got up, hoping I could join Sue, since she seemed the only non-hostile or awkward creature in the home right now. "Don't really get what that's got to do with me," I muttered at Seth, his explanation not really fitting the situation in my eyes.

When we all sat around the table Sue inquired what we had been talking about in the living room, once Seth had coughed it all up she laughed. "You know how boys can get, especially when they like you!"

My eyebrow seemed to raise on its own and I slid down my chair a bit further, was everyone here to make me uncomfortable or did it just really seem that way? Seth and Bella shot each other a look when Sue made the comment and it send a shiver up my spine, but I was too stressed out to think of any questions I could ask which could give their intentions away. I played with my food a little, before taking a bite, my mind in a totally different place than at the awkward kitchen table at the Swan's house. I wondered if Edward couldn't read my mind at all of if he just heard snippets, sincerely hoped it was the first one, even though that would attract even more attention to me. When I got back home I would have to write a long explanation and fill in about a thousand forms to explain and describe the odd things/behavior happening in this universe. Someone had to look into it, there must have been a malfunction somewhere else in the story, causing them to act like this. I mean, wasn't it out of character for Bella and Charlie to invite neighbors over? Completely strange neighbors at that.

"You're a bit shy, aren't you?" Sue asked, making my jump slightly. "And so nervous, no need to sweetie. You'll find you fit in just fine, especially when you start school again."

"S-school?" Oh no, no no no. I was not going to school, I was done with school, I have a great job now! I am not going back to school. "I'm actually home schooled,"

"But your parents work so much they're barely around," Sue said, sounding extremely concerned.

"I-I home school myself through eh- the internet," I should have thought this through, my words sounded like the ramblings of a weak lie. How did Sue know of my fake backstory? I hadn't told anyone that yet. Beads of sweat started to collect in the nape of my neck and nervously started inspecting my food some more, hoping the conversation was over now.

"Didn't you already go to Forks High school?" Edward asked, his eyebrows raised.

I cringed slightly, I had told Emmet that right before the wedding, why hadn't I said no? No one would have cared, I had an invitation! I was entangled in a web of my own lies now and I didn't see a way to cut out of it. It was fine, after this I'd just avoid all of them, work from the utmost shadows, it'll be fine. "I-I did, for a couple of days before the summer break but it's not for me."

"Nonsense," Sue said. "School is the best place for you to make friends! You can't stay cooped up in that house every day!"

"I don't have a way to go to school every day," I said, honestly reaching for something to make her stop because I had a deep dark hunch of where she was trying to go. She couldn't force me into going to school, I was-I was a fine functioning adult now! No, I wasn't going to agree with her, my pushover days were over.

"Ohh," She finally seemed to let it go, my brain sizzled to a less tense state and I closed my eyes. Finally- "Oh but! Why don't you stay with us until your parents are permanently moved in? I'll call La Push high school first thing tomorrow to enroll you!"

"No!" I exclaimed, everyone looked at me like I was crazy. "I-I have to talk to my parents about this, I can't just- I mean this is my life and there is no way I will- I mean would go to..." This speech of how I was an independent, strong woman didn't really go the way I had imagined it as my nerves got the best of me. "I'll be fine on my own."

Sue sighed and a mischievous smile played on her lips, I winced a little, she'd seemed so nice, I thought I'd like her but she turned out to be my worst nightmare. "Truth is, your mother called me yesterday, I'm listed on this website as a guest parent, for children who need a place away from home for a while of parents who can't their children with them on trips, those kind of things. She's worried you won't be able to fit in here and you being all alone in that big house! She asked me to look after you even though she didn't even know me. She must be desperate, I couldn't say no. Besides it'd be so much fun having another girl in the house."

I just _felt_ the color drain from my face, who-what-how!? She was lying, she had to be, my mother quite literally lived in a whole other universe! "M-my- my mother called you?"

She nodded, not seeming too concerned by what she'd said at all but I was spooked. "She did, yesterday evening. She asked me to move you into my home as soon as possible, afraid you'd be in danger be all alone all the time. They will be in Seattle for at least two more months. I know this might be a big shock but, why don't you pack the things you need now? We can leave tonight and you'll be settled before you know it."

"But my mother called you?" I asked again. "Are you sure?"

Sue laughed, throwing her head back. "Yes, I'm sure silly! Now, do you need any help packing?"

I sure wished I had my switches now, but since the situation was so strange I tried convincing myself someone was at play here and they needed me in La Push. For all I knew the story was forcing me there for a good reason, Bella and Edward would probably go on their honeymoon soon anyways. Maybe it made more sense than I wanted it to "N-no, I can manage."

I looked at Seth who's face was also paler than it had been before, I'll be fine, Sue wanted me there, the story wanted me there. I had to try to keep my head cool and believe there was a good reason for all of this happening to me. I would be alright, everything would be.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 3. Awkward showers.**

I took my unpacked suitcase and threw all the spread contents back into my bag before meeting up with Sue and Seth at the front of the safe house. Needless to say I felt the most horrible I had felt in days, I was going to be living with a bunch of strangers and if I didn't solve this problem quick enough I'd be forced into going to school as well. Twilight was turning into my own personal hell and I had no way out. Sue chatted away in the car, about how the rules were simple, be back at this time, call when you're going somewhere etc. I wasn't really listening as much as I was beating myself up over getting entangled into this mess, I combed back through my memory, trying to find the moment it all went wrong and I planned that sure as hell would be crying tonight. Maybe before I tried to make an escape plan or maybe after, still hadn't figured the exact time out but it was going to happen.

Speaking of work, could it have been one of the managers called Sue? Maybe they were unaware of my location and they moved me to her house to be able to find me, for them to take me home or develop another plan of attack on this universe. I hoped with all my might it was that, I would see a familiar face and they'd tell me it was alright and I'd go home in a few days. Another option was that someone from the agency was sabotaging me, I never heard anything about other workers interacting with these characters on this level, if they had, Twilight would be more of a popular universe than it had been over the past few years. The fangirls would be all over this place but according to the stories I heard, the characters here were extremely aloof to Switchers, not even acknowledging their presence. So why was I sitting in the car on my way to stay at the Clearwaters home?

"Don't worry Bridget," Sue looked at me in the rear view mirror. "New places and schools are always scary, for everyone. Especially when you move to a small town like this, people will understand and you'll have Seth to help you."

"Thanks," I answered, trying to sound like I wasn't on the verge of tears. If I wanted to be under parental vision, I would've moved back to my own home years ago.

Seth shot his mother an annoyed look before turning it towards me, my bottom lip started trembling and his face softened slightly. "Are you sure you've got everything?"

I just nodded and looked out the window. I had been extremely thorough in getting all the papers and evidence I had in the safe house, just to be sure, in case anyone would be suspicious of me and break in to check it out. It was a risk taking them with me, I wasn't really sure where I'd hide them at Sue's home but surely none of them would think to nose through my stuff. I thought of buying some kind of small safe or something with a lock on it where I could hide them. Just to be sure any of the managers or other Switchers didn't come to find an empty safe house I left a note on the kitchen table with Sue's name and address.

We were still in the car when I was thinking of how to get through the ordeal of having to live with Sue, Seth and angry Leah, as well as having to keep working. I had to check the papers when I got there, something could have changed in the story in the mean time, I mean, it had to have changed since freaking Edward and Bella were still in Forks instead of on their honeymoon. There was a good possibility that they were the ones causing all this trouble, but what was keeping them here all of the sudden? Not to mention, Sue was planning on enrolling me into La Push high school, where I'd be one of the very few non natives and stick out like a sore thumb. I truly hoped my Switcher aspect of being nearly invisible would make it so no one payed attention to me, I had been in more school settings, but being a Switcher always allowed me to skip and leave whenever I wanted without ever being confronted by it.

So I could in fact pretend to go to school but then go to the safe house and work on my actual job. Yeah, that would be nice.

"Here we are," Sue said as she parked the car at the front of the house.

"Lovely," I mumbled, taking in the home when I got out. There was nothing wrong with the house, it had a very cabin feel to it with the woodwork and the red-brown colors, I tried to think of it as a sort of holiday. It wasn't like I was staying here forever, I'd go home and they would forget about me, like everyone always did. If I left this universe now and came back only seconds later none of them would remember me, that's just how things worked as Switchers. Inside the quiet home I looked at Sue, this was probably what she came home to after work since Seth and Leah were both regularly away from home now they had joined the pack, Harry passed away only about a year ago; She must have had lonely moments, maybe that's why she insisted on me coming here so much. Leah was upstairs asleep in her room so Sue told me to be quiet when walking up the stairs. I wanted to laugh at that, didn't she know her daughter's hearing must have already picked up on us coming when we were still a mile away?

"This is the guestroom or your room now," Sue whispered, almost beaming while showing me what she'd already prepared for me. "We only have one bathroom in the hallway and all these drawers and the closet are empty so you can put all your things in there. Feel free to decorate it eventually, posters, pictures, it's all okay. Oh! I put some extra sheets and blankets in this drawer, in case you get cold and this one," She took something from the bottom drawer of the nightstand and handed it to me. "You can lock, so if you feel the need to you can put your diary or jewelry in there."

"My diary?" I laughed a little to myself, Sue really just saw me as a kid then, that's okay, the locked drawer was the perfect place to store my documents. "Thanks, that'll come in handy."

Her smile widened. "Right, well, I'll see you tomorrow. The kids just run in and out of the house so breakfast is self served, unless we both wake up around the same time, then we'll have breakfast together...if you want."

My mind went to the place of sitting awkwardly eating breakfast together with her and I cringed a little, but didn't dare say no. "S-sure,"

Sue grinned "I'll leave you to it then, sleep well."

"Yeah, you too."

She left me alone in the small room and I awkwardly hovered for a bit before kneeling down and unpacking my suitcase, feeling it'd raise suspicion if I didn't. I did my best to open and closed the drawers quietly as I filled them with my clothes, luckily when I packed my stuff at home, I had a feeling I'd be here for a while so not all of my clothes existed out of big t-shirts and leggings. I usually chose comfort over looks, but if I eventually did have to go to school I would like wearing at least jeans, it didn't hurt to try and fit in a little bit right? I jumped about three feet into the air when the front door of the house slammed and the bang vibrated through all the walls, I wondered if it was Seth or Leah leaving for patrol or were the wolves already preparing to take the Cullens down? What if the honeymoon was delayed because they were going to turn Bella sooner? No no, Bella insisted on their first night together to be when she was still human, but why did she even move the honeymoon? She'd been waiting for all this for years, I hoped she wasn't having second thoughts all of the sudden, that would be a true disaster.

When I took all of my paperwork out of the suitcase to put it in the locked drawer, I noticed a colored marker in between some of the pages. I turned my head to read what I had written on it. "Relations," I read softly. Yeah, I had a sheet with all the relationships in the book, every family member, every imprint, friends, all of it was in there. Maybe I could see if there was something different in there for Bella to act so differently. "Impriiiints," I whispered to myself, I quickly scanned through it, sure there was nothing there that could cause a big disturbance, everything seemed fine until something caught my eye... "What the... Paul Lahote, imprint: Celeste Torres?" Didn't... what? Wasn't Paul the one who'd imprint on Jacob Black's sister? I rubbed my eyes and followed the words with my finger, to see if they really did belong together. "But his imprint was Rachel," I murmured, feeling like the air had been knocked out of me.

That night I read almost every page again, trying to find out who this character was or if anything else was out of order, but all the characters were the same and the situation hadn't much changed, except for the honeymoon being delayed. Only thing that was noteworthy was that Jacob's imprint was still unknown, but that was to be expected with the chances of Renesmee being born now smaller than ever. Don't misunderstand, Bella might still get pregnant and it might still be a girl and she might call it Renesmee, but it won't be the Renesmee we know. Would that matter though? Bella and Edward would never know the child they didn't have. I would, but that's on me. A new danger would be that this child isn't as mellow as Renesmee was, Bella could now give birth to some unruly monster. Even the fact that Bella would survive the pregnancy, was no longer there. "If Bella dies, what happens to this universe?" I mumbled. She was the main character, we saw everything through her eyes, if those chocolate orbs glazed over for good... I had no idea what would happen to this world.

So Bella had to stay alive, but surely she would. To say I was curious about Celeste Torres was an understatement, she wasn't in any of the original books or the movies for that matter. Although it wasn't uncommon for new characters to appear whenever a universe is this messed up, it'd have to mean Rachel is either dead, never existed or for some reason just won't ever meet Paul.

The thoughts and anxiety kept me up throughout the night and I groaned into the pillow when the sun started to shine through the curtains, I heard both Sue and the other person still in the house get up, then someone coming back into the home. I perked up a little, trying to hear who it was. "I'm going to bed mom," Seth's voice said from down the stairs, sounding exhausted.

"Alright sweetheart, can you see if Bridget needs anything? If she's up already." Sue asked.

Soon enough there were a couple of knocks on the door and Seth's voice called from behind it, sounding as exhausted as I felt. "Bridget, my mom asked if you need anything?"

I sighed miserably. "No, I'm fine."

He creaked the door open and stuck his head in and shot me a tired smile. "Looks like you didn't get much sleep either, I'll say you'll sleep in today alright?"

"Yeah, thank you." I said, a bit surprised at his sudden kindness to me.

"It's cool."

Seth left and I turned my face back into the pillow, my heavy lids finally closed and within a couple of minutes I fell into a deep sleep. I dreamt of coming back to my apartment to find my family waiting there, they hugged me and apologized for never coming to see me sooner, I told them it was fine and that I had missed them. While dreaming I knew it wasn't real somewhere in the back of my head, but I played along, pretending my family was the type to do these things. Pretend they didn't hold grudges for forever. I felt like the conversations were just a re-run of every conversation on the birthdays I had been to, talking about my dad's work and my sister's son, I sat at the end of the couch with my mothers arm around me, even smelling her while doing so. At some point their chattering slowly started to fade and I opened my eyes to the unfamiliar room at the Clearwater's home, when there were three knocks on the door.

I sprung up in the bed, almost hitting my head on the wall next to it, sleepy me wasn't exactly used to the new setting yet. "Three knocks, an evil spirit?"

Sue's humored voice entered the room as she peeked her head around the door, very much the same way Seth had. "I heard that! I'm sorry but it's three pm, I wasn't sure when to wake you up so just coming to tell you."

"It's three already?" I asked, groggily looking at my watch. Sure enough, it was. "I couldn't really sleep last night,"

She chuckled and came to stand in the doorway. "Yes, Seth told me... maybe it'd help if you took your glasses off next time?"

My hand flew up and touched the frame, pushing them further onto my nose. I snorted and took them off to clean them with my t-shirt. "That happens alot, they're sturdy though. H-hey, can I ask you something?"

Nodding, she came in and sat down in the chair at the desk. I swallowed my fear and looked at the floor. "W-what did you think my mother sounded like? Anything special?"

Sue's eyes softened. "She sounded quite worried about you," that wasn't really what I'd meant. "Very young too, actually. How old is your mother?"

I could do something with that... quite young huh? "She's 43,"

"Huh, she sounded so young. Well, I'll see you in a couple of minutes." She went back downstairs and I was left again with only my thoughts.

The woman who'd called Sue sounded very young, she even seemed to be surprised at the age of my actual mother. So it definitely wasn't my mother who'd called her, which I could have known, but still, my mother was quite the smoker with the matching raspy-ness. There was someone who pretended to my mother to get me over to Sue's home, someone who knew my actual parents weren't around anywhere near this place. I slowly moved from my room to the bathroom, meeting Leah for a short second as she gave me a short 'hey' before hurrying downstairs. I was so pre-occupied with brushing through my rat's nest hair while it was dry that I forgot to lock the door before getting into the shower, I let it get so hot it almost burned me, causing the whole bathroom to fog up. I washed my hair and was letting the conditioner do it's magic when the bathroom door opened, cold air swooping in, causing me to shiver. I thought whoever it was would leave as soon as they noticed someone was under the shower but Seth didn't sound bothered when he spoke up.

"Sorry Lee, I need to shave 'cause Sandy wanted to meet at the beach tonight. Hey, can you tell mom I won't be in for dinner?"

I was frozen behind the shower curtain, pushing myself against the wall and wishing this wasn't happening to me. "Lee?" Seth's hand waved the shower curtain as to try and wake her up.

I grabbed his hand to keep him from moving it too far back. "It's me! It's me! Leah just left Seth, please get out!"

"Whaa-aaa, sorry!" Seth pulled his hand back as though I'd burned him, he was out of the bathroom quicker than you could say shapeshifter!

"I-I'm almost done!" I called, holding a hand to my chest in relieve, that could have ended super weird. Well, weirder than it already was. I quickly got rid of the conditioner in my hair and got dressed a fresh pair of pajama pants and big t-shirt. I opened the door and looked around in the hallway, no one to be seen, I sighed in relief. I took my brush from my room and went downstairs while still brushing my hair, in the living room I found Seth sitting on the couch with a face the color of hot lava. "You can use the bathroom now," I said softly, trying not to frighten him.

He jumped anyways and looked anywhere but at me. "I-I'm not going out tonight, Sam- I mean, Sandy cancelled."

I stood there awkwardly for a few moments. "That's too bad..."

Sue called us into the kitchen for dinner when Leah also got home, her face resembling a thunderstorm. I swallowed hard and wondered if I should just say I was tired and go to bed. We sat quietly around the table, Seth not able to look me in the eye and Leah unwilling to do so. For a second I wished I was one of those hermit crabs and just retreat into my little house, I couldn't do this, I had been distracted today and forgotten about where I was but this was impossible. My whole career was based on not talking to people, that's what I signed up for, not this social stuff! "So I heard you met Jacob Black at the beach and he was a dick to you," Leah said, slightly looking over her shoulder to see if her mother was anywhere near.

Seth's eyes bulged and I spluttered before a surprised laugh escaped my throat. "kinda," I murmured.

Leah seemed to approve of my reaction and smirked. "He's just a kid, can't handle the truth and turns his anger towards the wrong people."

I shrugged slightly, feeling glad Leah didn't really seem to hate my guts. "It doesn't really matter, I won't be seeing much of him anyways."

"I don't think you should make those conclusions yet," Seth said, looking almost nauseous. "Jake's a good guy!"

There were three knocks on the front door and I frowned. "The evil spirit returns," I whispered, looking down at my plate. Leah snorted at my comment and raised an eyebrow when Seth jumped up from the table.

"I'll get it!"

"Is there something going on between you two?" Leah asked, with Seth still within hearing range. "You move fast."

I blushed a scarlet red and shook my head. "No-no, I...well I'm sure Seth will tell you later," _Voluntarily or involuntarily_.

That's when three big shadows moved through the door and behind me, one of them belted out laughter while Leah glared and I started trembling. "Hey Sue, smells good! Mind if we stay for dinner?"

"I haven't got nearly enough for all you boys now, another time!" Sue laughed from the kitchen, scrambling around some plates and pans by the sound of it.

The shadows walked around the table and sat down in the empty chairs left, making the wood groan and they put their weight on it. I felt like I had shrunken to the size of a three year old, surrounded by all these giants. While trying to control the trembling and doing my best not to mew like a scared kitten, I tried to make the situation seem normal in my head. It was all fine, they were visiting Sue and Seth, Leah, they were friends and knew each other, it was just like any other normal day in the Twilight universe, nothing out of the ordinary, nothing to stress about. "Aaah!" One of them laughed and held out his hand towards me. "I'm Jared, nice to meet you."

I flinched a little and introduced myself, sounding like a mouse while I tried to speak up. I shook his hand, but not before wiping my hand on my pajama pants. Sweaty hands are a serious problem if you're new somewhere, especially when the people you shake hands with immediately wipe their hands off on their clothes as well. The other men chuckled a little at my introduction and introduced themselves quickly as Paul and Quil, luckily not trying to shake my hand.

"Jake's not with you guys?" Leah asked, almost smirking like a villain. My eyes grew and I looked at the door, afraid he'd walk in and make me cry again in front of all of these people.

They all shot her a look of annoyance, Paul spoke up, his fists slightly balled. "He's busy now, but he wasn't happy with the stunt you pulled Leah."

She glared so hard I was surprised there weren't any lasers shooting from her eyes. "So, I'm supposed to stay away from my own house?"

"Come on Leah," Quil said, his tone exasperated. "You know that's not what we meant. It's just not cool showing him that stuff when..."

Leah's hands started shaking and her nostrils flared. "Keep out of this Ateara."

Jared narrowed his eyes and looked at me and then back at her. "This is exactly what we were talking about-"

I looked at Seth, hoping he'd do something to stop this weird argument. Apparently Leah had done something to Jacob, but I couldn't say I felt bad for him. He took my cue and called in his mother, who right away told them kindly to leave as we were eating dinner. "You'll have plenty of time to talk to Leah tomorrow." She said sternly, pointing them towards the door. "And Leah, stop bothering Jake."

Leah looked at me and I managed a small wink, shaking my head slightly. She got the message and laughed. "You're okay Bridget,"

"Thanks," I mumbled, softly chuckling to myself.

Seth groaned. "Mom! This isn't looking good!"


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 4. A Dog Fight.**

The next morning I woke up to Leah and Seth coming home from patrol, both eventually parting to their own rooms in silence. I amused myself with the thought of me going to their rooms to ask where they'd been going off to every day and night, something I'd never actually do of course. I wondered if they'd talked about what lie they would use if I ever were to ask, probably something like they had a party or going off to work. I had been thinking it would be best if I avoided contact with the rest of the pack or the Cullens, just until I had something to do again. Unnecessary contact would be kept at the bare minimum, perhaps that would get the story better in line as well. Maybe it was already too late, it felt like I was becoming intertwined in the story, that could be one of the reasons they were all so interested in me. It could happen, if I had to play a vital role somehow, but I doubted that sincerely. Their interest would die down sooner or later, this was surely just a glitch.

Speaking of glitches in the story, Bella and Edward finally left for their honeymoon yesterday, or so Sue told me. She'd probably heard it from Charlie, because she'd visited him already, he must have been worried. With good reason, but he didn't know that yet. I was ecstatic they finally decided to go, it took a whole bunch of burdens off my shoulders as the story was once again moving at its semi-normal pace. I had been a little scared that Edward read my mind about Renesmee and the pregnancy, therefor calling off the honeymoon to avoid all of that happening to Bella. Luckily, I was wrong and Renesmee might still be born.

"You're _still_ up, what's wrong with you?"

I jolted and sat up, squinting my eyes at the door. "Leah?"

"And you're blind- Yeah, Leah. What are you doing?"

"I-I'm just...lying in bed?" I answered, unsure of what she wanted me to say. "Trying to sleep?"

She made an unbelieving sound and shook her head. "Anything bothering you?"

My hands started trembling a bit, did she know anything? Why was I being interrogated, I didn't do anything to give away my 'real' purpose here did I? "I-I ... No?"

"Alright... Well, just know that you can come to me if you're dealing with anything. You're not as ...air headed as you sometimes seem."

"...Thanks?" Was that a compliment or did Leah just insult me?

When Leah was gone, the wheels in my mind started turning again with no intention of taking a break anytime soon. Both Leah and Seth didn't seem too worried about keeping their nightly leaves a secret, weren't they afraid I'd start to suspect something? Another thing was that I'd been able to pry the phone number 'my mom' used to Sue out of her, I'd tried to call it but found it wasn't possible since it came from a freaking phone booth... was I on an episode of some generic crime show? I was incredibly curious and terrified at the same time, some moments my mind was even able to go as far as to think Sue had it set up because she knew I was all alone, that wasn't a theory I stood by though. Maybe even one of the Cullens who called, but again, why!? I was also trying to think of a way to meet or bring up Celeste, where did she come from? Who exactly was she? Had she and Paul already met or was that still going to happen?

At the breakfast table Seth looked extremely tired as he slowly chewed his cereal, I noticed some light bruises on his arm but he covered it as soon as he caught me staring. He didn't really talk to me, one good morning was all I got before he went back upstairs. Leah was still asleep, she probably wasn't hungry and decided to sleep instead of getting some breakfast. Sue looked after Seth when he left, a worried frown on her motherly face. "He's a little quiet huh?"

I just nodded at her observation and decided not to say anything about the subject, a gut feeling accusing me of causing whatever was bothering him. Changing the subject seemed like the right way to go. "Sue?" I asked, making her look up from the newspaper. "I wanted to go back home today, I think I left some stuff behind."

She looked at me with a funny expression. "You want to visit Seattle? Did you call your parents about this?"

I must have looked crazy because she chuckled at my expression while I frowned in confusion. "N-no, I mean the house in Forks..."

"What house?" She laughed out loud, as if _I_ was the crazy one.

"The one across Charlie's house, where I lived... where- I- I mean, my parents and I are moving into?" My heart was almost beating out of my chest in anxiety, she was playing a joke on me, she had to be.

"There are no houses across Charlie's darling, are you feeling alright?"

No, I wasn't alright. If Sue had forgotten about the house, not even remembering it ever existed, meant it didn't. The safe house was gone and I was still here, which meant I was officially part of the story and the people in the other universe had no way of finding me until there was a new mission to make the safe house come back into existence. I was officially stuck in this universe until I found my Switchers, that I had lost and not seen since the wedding of Bella and Edward, the ones no one had come back to give back to me yet. What if they had still been in the safe house, I hadn't looked through everything well enough yet! I had nowhere to go, no one I knew here, eventually they would find out my 'parents in Seattle never existed and I couldn't expect Sue to finance me when my savings ran out! "Oh my god," I whispered, leaning on the edge of the couch, trying to keep my breathing under control.

"Bridget?" Sue's alarmed voice came close by and her hands rested on my shoulders. "What's the matter Bridget? Leah! Seth!"

I wheezed as my throat felt like it was closing up and my sight started to darken. "I. Can't."

Sue softly slapped my right cheek while I tried to stay on my feet. "What? Can't breath? Leah! Se-"

"We're here, what's going on mom? Bridget?" Seth wrapped his arms around my waist and dragged me to the couch, where he proceeded to prop my legs up. "Get a cool cloth mom," He said, sounding calm. "You gotta breath in through your nose and out through your mouth Bridget, don't worry, we've got you."

 _"That's the problem,"_ I thought as Sue pressed the cool cloth against my forehead and neck. For a moment my vision blurred and I really thought I was going to faint, but then I managed to get my breathing under control and all the Clearwaters were seated around me, looking absolutely horrified. "Geez," Leah said, breaking the silence. "I thought you were gonna die, how were we gonna explain that to J- your parents."

I tried to smile and sat up slowly, rubbing my forehead. "I don't think they'd be surprised after everything that's happened."

"Have you called your mother yet?" Sue asked, probably asking because I'd asked the number.

"Wha- Yes! Yes I have," I said, trying to be as convincing as possible. "She's eh, she's really busy with work and other things..." The doorbell rang like some buzzer, calling me on my awful lie. Sue looked at Seth and Leah, who in turn looked at me. I frowned and shook my head in confusion. "W-what? I'm not expecting anyone."

Seth went to open the door and we were all quiet to hear who it was. His surprised voice echoed into the living room. "Jake, what are you doing here?"

 _"Oh my god, am I attracting these characters or what?"_ I thought, self consciously fixing my t-shirt and quietly getting up so I could slip past them when they got into the living room. I was not feeling like seeing Jacob, he hadn't been happy to meet me on either of the occasions we did and I had no idea what I had done wrong.

Jacob sounded pretty out of breath at the door, his voice higher than normal, as if he was worried. "I was on patrol when I-I felt something was wrong."

My heart stopped and my eyes widened, had...had something happened to Bella? I looked at Leah who didn't look amused at all, I touched her arm and she looked down at me. "Did something happen?" I whispered, thinking she'd know since she'd been on patrol this morning.

Her eyes widened and then narrowed slightly. "No, probably not. Why?"

"What why?" I asked, blinking in confusion.

"Why do you ask if something's happened?" She asked, her voice low and suspicious. "Are you expecting anything to happen?"

"No, of course not..."

Leah hmm'd, not looking quite convinced yet but I didn't know what I could say to change this. Why was Leah so suspicious of me, but at the same time pretty friendly for her standards. Her moods were all over the place, one hour she ignores and avoids me, the next she comes to find me and looks at me as if she's expecting me to do a back flip or sneeze out diamonds. I had no idea who Leah thought I was, but I had a feeling she knew I wasn't exactly who I'd told everyone I was. My heart was drumming in my chest and she seemed to narrow her eyes even more, I was starting to give myself away, I had to slip out but Jacob and Seth were arguing at the door. Another voice entered their conversation and I fought the urge to groan, what were all these people doing here!?

Curiosity got the best of me and I listened in on the conversation, just like Sue and Leah were doing. Jacob sounded horribly depressed. "I thought I could do this, but it's getting bad. She's constantly stressed out and it reaches me from miles away, I can't sleep like this Seth, if some _bloodsucker_ attacks I won't be ready."

"What do you want me to do about it Jake?" Seth asked in desperation.

Leah started to shake and I looked down at my hands, where they complaining about her again? Should I stand up for her? Why couldn't they just see that if they were nice and treated her with respect, she would do the same. Leah wasn't nearly as bad as they made her out to be, they've just learned to deal with their feelings in this dysfunctional way. Why were they even talking about this with me in the other room? They knew I was there, weren't they scared I'd hear something I wasn't supposed to? Surely they knew I was anything but deaf.

"Just, I don't know, make sure she's okay."

I smiled at that, Jacob had always been the most understanding towards Leah of all the pack members, besides Seth I guess. Who in turn let out an exasperated groan. "That's your job Jake! You know what Sam said!"

The other voice, I recognized as Jared's jumped into the conversation again. "Jake, this isn't the way to go about it. You can't just have Seth help your-"

"Don't you dare say that word," Jacob snarled, his voice loud enough for me to jump at the suddenness.

 _"What the hell are they talking about?"_ I wondered, frowning at the seemingly escalating argument at the door.

Jared obviously didn't appreciate Jacob's comment. "You're a damn spoiled brat, you know how many of us would kill to have this?"

"You can have her then!" Jacob shouted, I shrunk into the couch.

"She's a human being, not a thing you can just pass on, you idiot!"

"Guys please," Seth pleaded, trying to calm the argument down.

"Bella is a human being too!"

Jared snorted and laughed a belittling sounding laugh. "Not for long she isn't."

"Leah!" Sue shouted, just before there was the loud sound of tearing and snarling, making the house shake. Leah ran outside, her face resembling thunder while I looked at Sue in fear.

I sat down on the couch while my eyes were glued to the living room door, Leah had closed it but the front door was still open by the sound of it. Their snarls were so loud, I flinched and trembled, wondering if they'd actually phased inside the home. The house seemed to shake with the wolves outside wrestling about, snapping and tearing away at each other whole Sue sat down next to me, holding my hand, hers was also trembling. Despite her own fear she tried to comfort me, but she wasn't really able to find the right words. "It's okay, it's just... it's just..."

"A dog fight," I whispered, feeling sorry for her and also not wanting her to feel compelled to tell me the truth, I wanted no part of the wolf pack.

She squeezed my hand and nodded. "Yes, some very large dogs."

* * *

Seth must have gotten hurt from the fight, because he got carried into his room by Sam and Paul. I was in my room with Sue when I heard them walk past the door, talking to each other with Sam mostly just apologizing and Leah cussing all of them out. Sue told me Seth had tried to stop the dog fight and fell in the process, he was just a little lightheaded so the others helped him to his room. I was thankful for her false explanation, I couldn't even begin to imagine how badly Seth must have looked if he had to be carried to his room, it wouldn't have been pretty. Still, I couldn't help but wonder what the whole fight had been about. A woman, but not Bella, involving Jacob Black. Had Rachel come home and Paul double imprinted? Or had Jacob like Paul imprinted on someone else entirely? Had Jacob imprinted on... Leah?

Shaking my head and trying to rid it of all these speculations I reasoned that Jacob would have imprinted on Leah in New Moon, when he became a wolf, since he knew and saw Leah regularly before that. What did Seth have to do with it as well, he was somehow a part of the problem Jacob was having. Unless... "No," I chuckled and waved it off, before the same thought sprung up again like a freaking box toy. "Noo... No way," I laughed a little louder, insanity crawling to the surface. "Oh lord, am I crazy or what? There's no way that, I mean, may- Nope, not going there. Didn't happen. It. Didn't. Happen. I am literally insane."

I sat on my bed, nodding to myself, trying to be satisfied with my reasoning of why this could not be happening to me. It just couldn't, I was me, he was...himself and I was a real person whereas he was just a storybook character made up by some lady with a laptop- I jumped up and power walked towards Seth's room. I should just ask him, what could go wrong? I'd just ask him 'hey, why were you guys fighting?' I would be able to tell from his face what it was. If I were to ask anyone I should ask Seth, he seemed nice enough.

Even though my two knocks were very soft, the door still creaked open. I quietly peeked around it. "Seth, I really need to-"

The door was opened wider and I all but fell into his room, five pairs of eyes stared at me, one pair in particular. Wow those were some eyes, some chocolaty, pretty, eyes. Paired with nice lips and a strong nose, jet black hair and that skin, whoowee. Just cut me up a nice piece of that- "Oh no," I whispered out loud, staring at Jacob Black while he looked at me with the softest expression, before it turned into stone again.

Had I been promoted from background character to Jacob Black's unwanted imprint?

"S-sorry, I just wanted to-to see if Seth was okay," I stuttered while backing out of the room. I had to get out of here, this was getting insane! There was no way Jacob Black had imprinted on me, I wasn't even part of this story and this wasn't even my world, my universe, my life! I couldn't handle this responsibility of being someone's freaking world, I could barely be the girlfriend to my middle school sweetheart, who only wanted to hold hands once during arts class! "I can't do this," I mumbled to myself while jogging down the stairs. "I am not _that_ girl. I will _not_ be that girl."

"Bridget?" Leah called after me, her voice getting closer to the stairs as I opened the front door. "Bridget!"

I halted by the door handle for a moment, should I stay here? No, this place had only brought me even more problems than I had before. I just need to get away for a moment and I ran through the door and out into the streets, constantly looking over my shoulder to see if they were chasing me, but of course, they weren't. "Thank god," I wheezed, out of breath from running. "I," I breathed, trying to keep my sanity. "I can't believe this is happening to me. What am I supposed to do?"

"Bridget?"

I screeched, tripping over my own feet while trying to get away. "Oomf," I hit the ground with a loud thud, scraping my chin, hands and knees.

The one who'd said my name rushed to my aide, right away taking my hands in hers. "Bridget, it's-it's me."

I looked at the Hispanic looking girl sitting next to me on the deserted sidewalk, her wild floof of dark curls, freckles and braced teeth did spark something. "Do I know you?"

She smiled sadly, showing off the braces even more. "We met at the party, but probably not as well as you should, I'm Celeste."

My eyes widened and I rubbed my head. "You're Paul's-"

"Imprint," She said, taking out a tissue and dabbing it on my bleeding chin. "That'll be a scar," She grimaced.

I swatted her caring hand away and gaped at her. "You can't just tell that to everyone, can you?"

Celeste smiled that sad smile again. "I can to you, we worked for the same company after all."

"You're from the agency?" I gasped, not really being able to process what she was saying and going by auto-pilot. "Who, what...What are you doing here? Nobody told me about you being here, I have to," My eyes welled up. "I have to use your Switcher."

"I broke it," She said, swallowing hard. "It's a really long story. I'll tell you when we get back to Sue's, it's not safe to be out here alone."

"What? No! I'm not going back there, someone's put me there. Someone's after me! I know it."

"I-I was the one who called Sue," She said, her eyes tearing up. "I'm sorry, I had to! It's not safe to be alone, especially without the wolves. We have to get back, I need-I need to see Paul." Her breathing started to speed up. "He's here, I know he is. He needs your Switch code, he's after you."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 5. Hanging onto Sanity.

"I-I was the one who called Sue," She said, her eyes tearing up. "I'm sorry, I had to! It's not safe to be alone, especially without the wolves. We have to get back, I need-I need to see Paul." Her breathing started to speed up. "He's here, I know he is. He needs your Switch code, he's after you."

"What?" My mind blanked for a moment and I slowly looked around to see who she was talking about. "W-who is?"

Celeste took my scraped hand and pulled me from the ground, but before giving me an answer she started to almost drag me towards the house again while I waited until she'd tell me. It wasn't until we reached the street where Sue's home was that Paul came running from it and towards us. "No one knows, not even him," Celeste whispered, giving me a meaningful look that basically said 'keep your trap shut'. "I'll explain when we're alone, really alone."

I opened my mouth to question her but before I utter a word Paul had reached us and swooped tiny Celeste up into his beastly arms. "What's wrong baby?"

She only shook her head, hugging him back fiercely. It sparked a little bit of hope in me, maybe Jacob didn't imprint on me? These two were obviously way too dependent on each other, while the only gaze Jacob had shot towards me when we first met was the ugliest snarl I'd ever seen in my life, you'd think I was his archenemy by the way he seemed to hate me. Except that one look when I'd just burst through Seth's door, Jacob had been caught off guard and stared at me with those puppy- no! If I was truly his imprint, the one he would give his life for he'd be making way more of an effort. Besides, Jacob imprinting on me would change the story in such a drastic way that it wouldn't even be the same book anymore. He was clearly still obsessed with Bella when he should have been obsessed with me if that was the case. We hadn't even had one nice conversation, I was just imagining things.

Sue quickly rushed towards me, moving my head by my chin for me to look at her, I winced. "Ouch,"

"What happened up there Bridget?" She asked, letter go of my chin to look at my hands and knees. "Are you alright? Did you break anything?"

"I-I was expecting to only see Seth in there...I sorta panicked when I saw there were so many people in there," A bold, horrible lie but it seemed to work. I chuckled awkwardly. "I was kinda distracted when Celeste scared me, I tripped over my own feet."

"You're all scraped up too," Sue tutted, shaking her head. "Can you walk? Let's get inside, I'll have to disinfect those scrapes."

I followed her into the home, but not before looking at Celeste in Paul's arms still. She must have felt my gaze because she opened her eyes to look at me over his shoulder, sending me an apologetic smile. _"I'll explain,"_ She mouthed, nodding understandingly. Frowning I nodded back, unsure of what exactly I was getting into and not at all feeling relieved by finding Celeste nestled in this other universe. She wasn't supposed to be here, just like me, just like how no one should have ever taken my Switchers because they were simply not supposed to be here. Everything that was supposed to be invisible, unnoticeable was thrown into a dangerously bright spotlight. I couldn't leave Sue's house anymore either, since the safe house had disappeared, I'd told myself it'd done that because I had been absent for some time now, but the truth was that I didn't know for sure and other options sure had been plaguing my mind since I found out.

"Did your mother say something to you?" Sue's voice pulled me back to reality and I looked at her dabbing some disinfectant on my badly scraped knee. "Did you two fight over something?"

"No, I'm just a little tired." I said, my voice sounding off and far away, even to me. "Why Sue?"

She looked up at my for a moment, probably noticing my strange mood. "You're so distant today darling, I thought you'd been sleeping better?"

"Yeah yeah I have," That wasn't convincing enough, Sue shot me a look with her eyebrows raised.

I quickly looked away, hastily scanning the room for something else to talk about when I made eye contact again with a familiar pair of eyes. Jacob was standing across the room, seeming out of place next to the fine china and Sue's little figurines behind him. Not even realizing it, I stared at him, something about his relaxed face and somewhat furrowed brow making butterflies erupt inside me. It almost seemed like he was slightly worried about me. My face flushed a burning red but before I could be embarrassed about it, Sue dabbed some disinfectant on my chin and I was crudely awakened from my little fantasy world. I hissed and winced at the cold burning sensation, balding my fists to keep from crying. "This hurts more than the actual scrape." I complained, making her chuckle. I squeezed my eyes shut while she continued and when I whined a little from her touching the scrape on my knee, I felt a warm hand enveloping my shoulder. In reflex I looked up into Jacob's worried gaze, his lips a tight line and jaw clenched while his eyes bore into mine and seemed to hold none of the anger his other features were expressing. For maybe a few moments, I was trapped in that that gaze, in those questioning dark brown orbs. For the first time in weeks I felt my body relax and I pretty much knew that if I closed my eyes there and then, I would have definitely fallen asleep.

My lids started to get heavy and I had to put in alot of effort to keep them open, only to be sucked in to this other world without worries again when I met his stare. Eventually I managed to escape this weird trans I was in and shook my head a little, I cleared my throat and moved under his grip. His hand left my shoulder and I missed the touch of it right as it went. He stood there for a few more seconds before rushing out the door, his face once again like thunder. I stared after him while already trying to convince myself I was just so tired I was imagining things, none of those feelings just now really meant anything.

"Well... that was something," Sue murmured, grinning like a crazy person.

"N-no, t-that was nothing," I said, more trying to convince myself than her. "That was weird huh?"

She patted me on the shoulder as she got up. "Trust me, it could get a whole lot weirder."

I walked over to the couch and sat down to watch some TV, but I was still changing channels when my eyes slowly shut and I was finally able to get some sleep. When I woke up, the living room was dark except for a small light in the kitchen and the sound of someone rummaging through the fridge. When he got what he wanted, Seth emerged from the kitchen, arms full of food and soda cans. He was about to walk away when he noticed me, sitting up. "Geez Einstein, did I wake you up?"

"Sort of," I smiled, patting my wild hair down. "You okay again?"

"Yeah, it was just a couple of little scrapes, I wasn't nearly as wounded as you were." He snorted at the last part, probably knowing I'd been scared by little Celeste. "I thought you were in a coma for a moment, you slept like 16 hours."

"And I'm still tired," I confessed with a sigh, my bones feeling heavy as I tried to get up. "I'm going up to bed,"

"You do that," He smiled. "Careful up the stairs!"

"I'll manage," I laughed slightly.

My head finally hit the soft pillow and my eyes rolled back, I was gone off to another nice slumber. For once my mind wasn't busy with anything other than Jacob. I jolted and sat up, the sun brightly shining through the curtain. I slapped my cheek. "No no no, we're not doing that!"

"You are so weird," Leah said, looking at me with a bemused expression on her face. "Dreaming nice dreams?"

She winked and left while I stuttered after her. "I-I didn't have any dreams at all!"

* * *

Celeste called me a few days later, she wanted to meet in a restaurant to talk about what had happened. "I don't know how long it's been in our universe," She said, looking down at her drink. "But I know I went in, in 2009. The movie caused a rise in popularity and you know, popularity usually makes these universes unstable. I went in just like you, nothing weird or wrong at first, until I found out Rachel had died a few months before I got here." She shook her head. "She was supposed to live, anything in the way of that should have been handed to me but no matter how many times I read my documents, I couldn't find anything about Rachel dying. Eventually her name was nowhere to found on the pages and I started hearing strange sounds at the house."

The hairs on the back of my neck rose and I leaned in. "Sounds?" I whispered.

She nodded and closed her eyes. "I thought it was just in my mind, after all, no one would pay attention to the safe-house right? We were invisible to everyone. One night I knew someone had entered the house and before I could Switch back or call the police he was in my room, my partner killed and that monster coming for me. Later on I found out some other girl had been careless, she'd told information to another no name character and he'd found a way to be changed into a vampire."

"Wait! There's a vampire, of this world, who knows what we do?" I asked, my hands trembling and my breathing speeding up.

"He wanted to Switch to another universe to get rid of the Volturi, he was a part of their coven but wanted out. Nadia, my partner, he killed her and with that her Switchers self-destructed. I was in a panic and was able to make it out the house when they went off, once outside I knew he'd get me- I didn't have time to switch back home! But I couldn't have him torture me for him to get my Switch-codes and my Switchers... I-I used the self-destruct code and threw them into the house, hoping it'd keep him off until I'd gotten away." She sighed shakily. "Once he got out of the house he was hurt, the heat from the fire breaking his skin apart. I thought I was dead, but... Sam had smelled him, he got to me in time. He was still inexperienced at that point, acting on instinct, he only scared him off."

I clenched my teeth and dug my nails into my palms. "He took my Switchers at the wedding?"

Celeste ran a nervous hand through her wild hair. "I-I'm not sure, I think he didn't realize they work with a code, thinking if he let you live, he'd be able to use them. Surely he's found out that's not the case by now. Listen Bridget, the safest place for you to be is with the wolves, always with the wolves. Jacob imprinting on you is your chance at a safe life! The universe is trying to safe you!"

"It's not how it's supposed to be Celeste! Jacob is a big part of the story, a main character just switching soulmates? It could cause impeccable damage."

"Ohhh," Her eyes widened as she seemed to realize something. "Y-you still think of them as characters huh."

"That's what they are and all they'll ever be," I said, trying not to get angry. It was something that we learned in the early days, these were characters following a set path, not people just living their lives. "This is not our world, you can't blur the line like that."

Celeste put her hand over mine and spoke in a low voice. "You haven't realized... We're one of them now Bridget. Why do you think the safe-house is gone? You-me, we're part of their story. You can't go back anymore, it would absolutely ruin Jacob!"

I pulled my hand away and eyed the other people in the restaurant, unaware of our conversation. "I'm pretty sure if someone here would be fine if I left, it's him Celeste."

She shook her head, eyes never leaving my face. "Don't you know him? It's all an act, he _wants_ to still be in love with Bella!" Her voice turned into a whisper. " _He can't be without you, your bond is even stronger than Paul's bond with me. Paul tells me everything, Jake has been in incredible pain trying to deny you_."

"Geez, now I feel better." I snorted, taking a bite of my waffle. "And don't you feel guilty? Paul doesn't even know who you really are, while he spills his heart out to you. I don't know if I could keep that up."

"Oh please." It was her turn to snort now. "How can I possibly tell him I'm from another universe Bridget? Should I add that Jacob's dead sister was supposed to be his imprint as well?"

Celeste sighed deeply and rubbed her eyes, it looked like she hadn't slept well for a few days seeing as her tanned skin had this grey-ish hue to it. The dark bags under her eyes and redness around her dark iris's made me feel guilty about what I'd said, she had done alot to try and keep me safe. Of course she felt guilty about not telling Paul everything, she must have been dying to tell him, to air her heart. She hadn't been able to talk to anyone, mourn her partner's death or see any of her family in years. "Don't you miss home?"

"Not as much," She said quietly, staring off through the window. "It's hard to accept I'll never see them again."

"Someone will come for me though," I said, trying to cheer her up. "They can take us home."

"I've been here all this time Bridget. They knew, they know everything, but they won't do anything about it. We're a part of the story now, it's against the rules to take characters away from the story line."

"When it's over?" I asked, the hope I had slowly slipping through my clenched fists.

Celeste shook her head. "It's too late Bridget, you should focus on staying safe and hoping," she paused. "Praying that man didn't tell the Volturi or anyone else."

I rubbed my forehead, feeling a headache coming up. "Jacob is never going to accept me, why should I bother trying?"

She waved her hand in the air and snorted. "You think Paul and me had the easiest ride before we got here? I didn't want to be stuck to the obnoxious hothead of the group, I was still waiting for someone to come and pick me up from that hell! Listen, I'm not saying you gotta go parading all around him and trying to get him to like you, just don't avoid him, the rest will come."

"Do you even realize how weird this sounds? It's like I don't even have a choice in the matter! Jacob is not my type and I can't think about a relationship right now."

The snort that escaped her nose was so sarcastic I sat back. "Oh pu-lease, I've been right where you're at, I know you're stressed out of your mind but when he's around you feel fine, you feel at home. All your troubles go away and maybe there's a chance you could make a home in this strange world!"

"I mean... I-I don't know," I mumbled, looking at the table. All the things she'd said were sorta right, but I wasn't sure I wanted to pursue any of it.

"I get it," Celeste said softly. "I'm not saying jump him right now and never leave his side, just, you know, give him a chance. Jake's a babe when you pound those walls down..."

Waving my hand around, I sat back and went through my mind. "I... I mean, we've got nothing in common. He had that one nice moment a couple of days ago but that's it, he's like the male version of Bella... no real interests except cars when he was younger-"

"He still likes cars!" Celeste said quickly, hoping she'd found something to convince me.

I chuckled at her enthusiasm. "But I don't. I'm nothing like Bella, Celeste, this is doomed to fail. I'm going to go home, not stay here for some guy."

"Oh my god," She whispered, her eyes widening. "You totally like Seth!"

"No!"

"Leah?" She replied, almost choking out of shock.

I rolled my eyes at her. "Not in that way."

"Jacob's been feeling better since the thing as well, you know?" She started, innocently inspecting her drink. "I mean, you're both suffering because of this stubbornness. That's something you have in common."

I stared at her for a moment. "...Yeah, well I don't think that's the best base for a relationship either."

She let out an exasperated sigh and threw her hands in the air. "Pfff you don't know what you want, you could be so happy! But you're so- so- so stubborn."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Six. From the frying pan into the fire.**

* * *

"Just take them off,"

"Stop-" I lightly slapped Celeste's hand away from my face. "-Trying to take my glasses, I need them to see. It's not a fashion accessory."

She huffed and narrowed her eyes. "Only for a little while! You can still see without them, you're not completely blind."

"Not completely but I still need them," I rebutted quietly, trying to figure out what the hell I was doing. Celeste had convinced me to go the Sam and Emily's home with her, I didn't really want that but... I also didn't want my time with her to end so soon, I finally had someone to talk to and she seemed to understand alot of things about me. I wondered if we could have been friends back at home, when things were normal. Or more normal than this. The loneliness from home had initially been subdued, but I wasn't sure if that was because I lived in a home with more people now, or that loneliness had made way for stress and anxiety. I hoped Celeste felt the same way, even though she was a bit draining, I wasn't used to someone talking so much or dragging me around town all day. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it, but it was tiring me out. Not to mention Celeste wasn't really interested in going home anymore, she didn't want to solve the problems anymore, she wanted to live her life with Paul here. I was anxious because of that, I wasn't ready to let go of my own life. Sure, I got lonely from time to time but it was home, wasn't it?

I shouldn't get too attached to anyone here, I was going to do my job and leave. Making all sorts of friends who would never know where I went if I left, would complicate more than I even wanted to imagine.

"Can I just say I'm so happy you're here. Finally, I can talk to someone about everything!" Celeste gushed over me as we walked from the restaurant to Sam and Emily's home. "You're so adorable too! What year are you from anyways, 2010?"

"2016," I mumbled, hoping not to scare her too much.

Celeste stood still for a moment and she seemed off after that. "2-2016? I've been here for 7 years? That's almost a decade... I never realized."

I halted and thought for a moment before giving her an awkward 'comforting' pat on the shoulder. "You know time moves differently here,"

She nodded, still a bit dazed. "I guess my family should have moved on already by now."

Not knowing how to answer that, I just started walking again and she followed me. I wondered how the bond between her and her family had been, surely it'd been better than the one I had with mine. She must miss them alot, especially since she's planning on living here forever. None of them would ever meet Paul or any children she might have, if I really thought about it, she only had Paul here. He was the one who really made her able to pull through and be happy in a place that wasn't even close to her own home. She had accepted the situation, I mean, that wasn't really crazy after 7 years but I was nowhere near that point. Besides that, what would happen to us when the story ends? Does it start over and wipe all or our memories or do we all just basically... die? What if someone found out about Celeste and I, what if she decided to tell Paul and through him the whole pack? They'd be fuming! We could have saved them alot of heartache and pain and worry, but we didn't because to us they're just a story.

The little cabin came into sight and I stopped walking. Celeste gave me an encouraging smile and patted my shoulder. "It'll be fine,"

"I think you're underestimating the situation," I said, awkwardly shifting from foot to the other. "I'm not sure it's the right time, let's just go to Sue's, plenty to do there."

"Just take the first step," She encouraged me. "Nothing can go wrong really."

I eyed the cabin and noticed there were people waiting on the porch of it, I assumed they were arguing because there was a light scuffle going on. Then a big shape made its way towards us and I leaned towards Celeste. "Guess that's the welcomes committee?"

She nervously shrugged and tried to laugh. "I guess you could call it that..."

An extremely aggravated looking Jacob came storming to us, his face once again like thunder. "What the _hell_ do you think you're doing Celeste?"

" _Uh oh_ ," I mouthed, watching Paul's face twist into an even uglier snarl than Jacob's in the distance. "This is why I need my glasses."

Celeste snapped from her daze and started stuttering. "I-I thought I'd invite Bridget for a sleepover."

Oh god, I hate sleepovers. "W-what? Celeste I don't-"

"Don't play your stupid games with me," Jacob snarled at her, interrupting my trying to get out of this 'sleepover'. "I know exactly what you're up to and it's none of your business!"

"I think you're o-overreacting," I said, mustering up all my courage and wiping his saliva off my forehead. I sighed when the both of them stared at me. "I'm not sleeping over, I got alot of stuff I need to work out."

His eyes softened slightly and he gave a curt nod, trying to regain composure. I'd be lying if I didn't admit to myself being near him again gave me an incredible feeling of belonging, but while my body was naturally responding to what I think was the imprint, my mind did everything to fight against it. It was conflicting, wanting to be near someone that didn't at all feel right for you. There was still the possibility of Bella giving birth to a daughter, a daughter Jacob could imprint on. From what I remembered was that Jacob immediately forgot about his love for Bella, the moment he saw Renesmee. He didn't try to fight the imprint, not like he was trying to now at least. What if I accepted the imprint only for him to run off with a beautiful half vampire who'd be an adult within at most three years? That would just ruin little old me who stayed in this universe for him.

I looked up at him but made no eye-contact, instead I focused on his frowning forehead, determined to keep myself from swooning. "It was nice seeing you again... I guess."

"Paul, can you get the car?" Celeste called towards the house, she walked towards him, leaving me alone with Jacob. I narrowed my eyes at her as she left, she was already trying to fix us up.

His body was rigid when I peeked at him from the corner of my eye, fists balded and knuckled probably even paler than my own nervous face. He was upset and I was anxious, yet we both awkwardly lingered near each other, not making any contact whatsoever. Why did it feel so intimate? It was like the wheels in my head stopped turning for once, just by feeling his radiating heat on the side of my face. I contemplated speaking up, saying something like 'Oh boy, the weather is nice today' or 'You may see me as weird, but I'm actually quite average', stuff like that which obviously didn't make the cut for being spoken out loud. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I didn't have anything to day to him at all. He was probably worried sick about Bella, heartbroken too. And then I entered the picture, an imprint that wasn't really supposed to happen and one that didn't offer the relieve and freedom Renesmee had. She'd cut him loose from Bella, something which otherwise wouldn't have happened since he was so determined to have her as his. Not that his dreams were unrealistic, let's be honest, Bella led him on, at one point she was ready to choose him and then it got ripped away. No wonder he thinks he still has a chance.

I stared at Paul and Celeste squabbling in the distance, she was smiling and laughing while he seemed a little upset. She flung her arms around him and he relaxed visibly, grinning as he lifted her to his chest. My eyes watered a little, Celeste had what many of the girls at the office wanted, she had a place where she belonged. While not everyone had such bad relations with their family as I did, most were in fact the black sheep, looking for a place to fit in and be accepted. There's something cool about standing alone and being able to not need anyone around, I tried it for the longest time. Be the cool girl, doing stuff by myself, shopping, going out. There's nothing more sad than forcing yourself to do these things and imagining it was your own choice, not the one everyone around you made because they didn't like hanging out with you, because you didn't fit in with them. But Celeste did fit in, she was hanging out with everyone in a friendly matter and no one looked at her funny or sneered when she tried to say something. Maybe I was a little jealous there, envious of what she'd found. I peeked at Jacob again and wondered, had it been another wolf to imprint on me and one that would give his all right away to have me, would I have given in more easily?

Both Paul and Celeste came up, hand in hand. "Could the two of you look anymore awkward?"

None of us said anything, Jacob let out a weak growl before turning around and storming off. I tried to shrug it off, but my voice betrayed my emotions. "Bye Jacob."

I got into the back of the car and looked out the other window, the one in which I couldn't see Jacob walk off into the distance. The immense sadness that washed over me had me promise myself I wouldn't go out to see Jacob for a while, I was starting to hope and wish things that by the looks of it were never coming true. The car started moving and turned around, I stared out the same window while we drove off and passed Jacob again. I didn't have time to redirect my gaze, so once again our eyes met and his didn't look too happy either. Maybe I was daydreaming or just seeing things, but it seemed like he lifted his hand to wave while he stood still in front of the porch of the home. I hesitantly waved back before looking forward, hoping I hadn't imagined things and been waving him off like an idiot. "See? He's warming up to you!"

Paul seemed to choke on the air and shot her a quick disbelieving glance. She slapped his arm playfully before crossing hers. "Shut up, he totally is."

My head seemed to shake on its own while she sat there, grinning. "I think you're delusional. There's nothing between us."

Celeste waved her finger in the air as she happily sang. "You can't lie to me, I know what I saw."

"Two people awkwardly not trying to make any contact with each other whatsoever?" I sarcastically rebutted, rolling my eyes slightly. "I don't want to see him for a while,"

Paul looked at me through the rearview mirror, frowning slightly. "It wasn't that bad, he'll warm up to you, he's a cool guy once you get to know him. And everyone else of course."

"That's what people keep telling me," I said, staring out the window.

They dropped me off at Sue's place and I came in to find dinner was already in the making, with both Seth and Leah sitting on the couch and watching TV. I sat down in one of the chairs while the both of them looked at me, waiting for me to say something. Sue walked into the living room, spatula still in hand as she patted my shoulder with the other. "How was it?"

The two siblings leaned in and I had a hunch that they knew what Celeste had been planning. "It was fun, we went to that waffle place and hung out some more after."

"That's good. Celeste goes to the same school as you so it'll be great if she gets to show you around and introduce you to all the new people and places." Sue's motherly tone soothed me, but I also heard the word 'school' and I was not really feeling that. "Speaking of school, it's starting again soon, are there any things you still need?"

I shook my head quietly as it began to pound, I rubbed my temples and closed my eyes. If only Celeste had left me at the safe house, even if I did have to fight off vampires, at least I wouldn't be in this mess being forced to go to school. "When does school start again?"

"Next week," She said, sounding confused. "The 9th of September, remember?"

My eyes snapped open in shock, I'd already been here for at least six weeks? How did that happen? When did that happe-... Oh, wait. "We're skipping over non-important parts," I murmured to myself, chewing on the inside of my cheek. "Normally I'd notice that, why didn't I notice that? Did it happen overnight?"

"What?" Sue asked, her brows furrowed.

I blinked and looked around the room, three confused pairs of eyes staring at me. The universe had sped time up, probably one of the nights I was deeply asleep. We were going past the insignificant parts of the story, which also meant something big was about to happen. Maybe Bella was coming back from the honeymoon? A little early but most certainly a possibility now that there may or may not be a baby at play here. But the story had sped up before the lunch I had with Celeste and we hadn't skipped over me meeting Jacob again...so did that mean it was a significant part of the story? No, I shouldn't let myself go there. I got up from the chair and walked towards the hallway. "Nothing, I'm just talking to myself. I'm not very hungry and I'm exhausted, I'm going to get some sleep."

Maybe I was paranoid, but all of the sudden it felt like my grip on reality had loosened. Leah followed me up the stairs, her warm hand between my shoulder blades to keep me from falling back. "I think you just worry too much,"

"I'm not worried at all," I lied, not even looking at her. "It'll be fine, don't get too involved."

"You're saying weird things again," She murmured while I heard the grin in her tone. "You got alot more to you than you're letting on,"

I stopped and turned my head slightly in her direction. "You have no idea."

We said goodnight to each other and I crawled into bed with my clothes still on, too tired to change and already falling asleep the moment my head rested on the pillow.

* * *

 _Beep beep beep_

 _"What the hell?"_ I squeezed my eyes shut before opening them to the alarm. I hit the first button on top of the monstrous machine and sat up in a daze. "When did I set that?" I wondered out loud, thinking back to yesterday when I was too tired to even change out of my clothes. I moved out of bed and scratched my head, realizing I was wearing a pair of pajamas's. "Oh no,"

"Oh yes, good morning sunshine." Leah said from the door opening, a tired smirk on her lips. "Ready for school?"

"Not...quite," I said, my head reeling as if I'd had a few too many drinks the night before. "School's today?"

If school started today, it meant that everything around me had sped up again while I was asleep. So now I wasn't prepared for going to school, let stand willing. Maybe I was lucky and neither Sue or Seth would walk into the school, so I could make a subtle escape no one had to know about. At least I hadn't seen or talked to Jacob this past week, or else it wouldn't have sped up to this point. But that would mean I'd see him today or something else was going to happen, so I definitely shouldn't be going to that school. As I got ready, I tried to keep my thoughts at a minimum, already feeling a headache coming up. I really wanted to see into my papers, the ones I'd hidden in the locked drawer of my nightstand, but there wasn't any time for that now was there? I got dressed and brushed through my unruly hair the best I could, before twisting it into a weird shaped bun on my head. Slowly sneaking down the stairs, thinking of what to say to have Sue not take me into the school, I tried to neutralize my facial expression and not feel as guilty.

I rounded the corner to the kitchen and mustered up the most innocent smile possible at that moment. "Morning Sue,"

She sniffled and turned around, nose red and face pale. "Morning Bridget,"

"You're sick," I said, gesturing for her to sit down. "You should go back to bed!"

"No no," She shook her head and groaned afterwards. "I have to take you and Seth to school today,"

"I'll do it mom," Leah said from behind us.

Eventually Sue agreed after making Seth promise to keep an eye on me and show me around. Leah told me about the school in the car, where to find the administration office and what class Seth was in. He chimed in occasionally, seeming pretty excited to go back. "Jake will be going again too! I wonder if he'll start today though,"

I'm glad I was looking out the window when he said that, so the both of them couldn't see my happy go lucky expression literally fall into a dark abyss never to be recovered. I slowly turned my face towards Leah in the driver's seat who, seemed to be trying her best not to laugh. Needless to say, I was not amused by this news whatsoever. "I have a headache," I said, my voice as stony as my face felt. Maybe I could convince Leah to take me back if I was sick, like Sue. Going to a small high school in a natives reservation, I would stick out in the worst way. Jacob would be there to make my life there even more of an hell than it already was. I rubbed my eyes, feeling a real headache coming up as opposed to the one I was going to fabricate.

"ohhh no." Leah shook her head, still doing her best not to laugh. "You're going,"

"You're enjoying this too much," I growled through ground teeth. "I don't see how this is necessary,"

"Said every kid ever," Seth chimed in, his grin giving away his amusement.

"You'll be fine, you're around Seth, no one's gonna bother you."

"That isn't the problem," I said crossing my arms and longingly staring out the window.

Leah was onto me long before I was onto myself, she threw her head back and cackled before sending her brother a knowing look. "Seth, watch her please."

His grin never faltered and he nodded. "Of course."

He guided me towards the school while Leah happily drove off, making my heart beat faster than the speed of sound. I took a deep breath and tried to remember all the times I had to go into a high school, undercover, it was fine. No one had noticed me all those times, I'd been able to do my thing and get out of there. I didn't exactly get payed to go to school and get good grades, I got payed to do my job. Seth was oblivious to my inner pep talk and plans to make a great escape, happily keeping his arm around my shoulder while pushing my unwilling body up the steps towards the entrance of the school. His grip was painful, but it was secure enough for me to think he wasn't a oblivious to my plans as I thought. How was I going to convince him to leave me alone long enough for me to outrun him?

We stepped into the school and I was glad it seemed to be quite normal, the kids around me were mostly natives, as expected but there were a few non-natives as well. Nonetheless there were alot of eyes on me, or were the stares directed at Seth, the boy that suddenly grew way into the air and lost all of his babyfat, replacing it with well formed muscles in the span of a few months. I wondered how long he hadn't been to school, must have been a long time since he seemed really happy about being back.

"I eh, I still need to go to the administration's office." I said, pointing to my right. "We'll see each other in the break,"

His grin still didn't falter one bit. "That's okay, I promised mom to guide you around."

I smacked my lips together in annoyance and stiffly made my way towards the administration office. When I opened the glass door the lady behind the desk looked up and put a couple of papers on the counter. "Bridget right?"

"Yep," I sighed, reluctantly walking towards her with Seth right on my heels.

"This is all you need for today, come back tomorrow for the others please. We had a small registration error." She said, furiously typing away on the computer.

I was ready to let it go but Seth walked up next to me. "Registration error?"

The lady nodded, not looking at him. "Not to worry, it happens all the time. It might be because you weren't born here," She turned to me. "You're registered under another category, but we'll find you."

"You have no idea," I mumbled, looking at my class and the other ones listed. "M4A?"

"Really?" Seth asked, grabbing the paper out of my hands. "We're in the same homeroom class Bridget! That's amazing!"

We walked out of the administration's office and by the lockers, Seth barely kept his eyes off of me, like he was trying to make me even more nervous. He was going to stick to me like glue all day, my escape was further and further with each idea I had slipping through my fingers. That's when we passed a bathroom and I knew, if this school was like all the other ones, this was my only chance before getting introduced to the class and the teacher. I had to get out before that, to not raise anymore suspicion than I already was with that 'registration error'. The error was most likely that I wasn't listed in any database, not in this whole country, so it'd be best if I avoided school before I had cops turning up at the doorstep. I cringed at Seth's exited face, feeling a bit guilty that I was about to run out on him, but I didn't have another choice.

 _"Why is my life this way?"_ I wondered solemnly, doing my best to keep my face neutral and not 'extremely guilty, about to escape'. "That's great Seth... listen, I have to go to the bathroom, you can go ahead."

He frowned slightly and shook his head. "You won't be able to find the classroom, I'll wait outside but hurry up, class is about to start."

"Oh okay," I tried to smile and hurried into the bathroom.

It was all empty and quiet in there, probably because the classes were about to start within the next few minutes. I opened all of the yellow stall doors, trying to find one that had a window above it. About to give up hope and trying to accept that I was going to have to go through an introduction and problems with the school and their registration issues, I opened the last stall and was greeted by the light of the outside. It was a window I could open all the way up, but it would still be a tight fit, hopefully not tight enough to get me stuck. That was a risk I was willing to take. I stepped onto the toilet seat and climbed up on the tank, I was up high enough to hoist half of my torso up and through the window, it was cramped but I wasn't stuck yet. The hardest part to get through was going to be my hips, but I hoped if my head had fit through, my ass would too, and that was mostly soft tissue, so...

My legs were flailing as I tried to pull through the window, clawing at the ground in front of me to pull myself up, when the bathroom door opened. "Bridget?"

"Shit," I whispered, keeping my body still. My head was already out and I couldn't tell him to leave without him hearing I was somewhere I wasn't supposed to be. "Now or never," I slammed one of my feet against the stalls side wall and got the other one through the window.

"Holy. Shit. Bridget!" Seth grabbed the leg still in hanging there and tried to pull me back. "Are you insane? Come down!"

I could only play it dirty now, he'd pull me back in. I must have looked especially shitty after trying to get through the window so, meeting my new classmates and teachers wasn't on my schedule today. "Ouch Seth! You're hurting me!"

His hand released me right away and I slipped out, rolling onto my back, I tried to catch my breath. "Bridget you're crazy, stay there."

I looked down at him through the window and smiled. "Sorry Seth, not today."

His eyes widened and he quickly ran out of the bathroom. I frowned and jumped up. "Oh no,"

I don't think I've ever been in a situation I've had to run from someone who was more or less harmless, but it felt like I was running for my life. I made my way out of the parking lot and then dared to look back, only to see Seth just hurrying out of the school. It took him a short while to zoom in on little tomato faced me, only the school's parking lot between us. I felt quite confident about the distance until he started to sprint and I remembered I was racing a shapeshifter here, one in absolute top shape and me... In pretty much a round shape. I ran on, dropping my bag in some bushes while trying to find some sort of store to run into, hoping it'd keep him from dragging me back. I wasn't going to be able to outrun him, I had to hide somewhere he wouldn't find me with his wolf senses.

When I dared to look back over my shoulder to see if he was still after me, I ran into a wall. A warm wall. A very hard wall. I bounced off it and hit the ground with the back of my head. "Come on," I groaned, grabbing my head.

"Are you okay?"

"No," I said ground out, tears stinging my eyes. "I can't-I just can't go to school today! Damn it!"

The person sat in front of me, I wondered if he was a werewolf by the warmth radiating from his body as he leaned over me. My head was rearing and when I tried to open my eyes it became ten times worse. "Why not?" He asked, sounding quite curious.

"I've just got better things to do okay?" I grumbled, bending my head down and rubbing the sore spot. "Is he here yet? Seth is right behind me."

"Come on," The stranger sighed, hoisting me up by my arms at first but deciding against it when my legs gave out. He let out an even more exasperated sigh and on of his arms hit the back of my knees. I squealed thinking I was going to fall, but then he lifted me up against him and... it felt amazing. "We'll take my car okay? I think you need to go to the ER."

I tried to open my eyes but could only pathetically flutter my lids. "Ehh... This isn't ehm necessary, I just need to lie down for a moment."

He put me in his car and made the seat go down as far as it could, before closing the door and getting in next to me. "We'll drive for a few and see how you feel about it yeah?"

I nodded once and tried to relax while he started the car. This is not. How my mother. Raised me. What the hell was wrong with me? Getting hoisted into some strangers car and feeling absolutely fine with it? What if he was a serial killer having chosen me as his new victim? But it felt so nice being there next to him, his voice was so calm and soothing. On top of that he sounded genuinely concerned about my well being, without being too pushy about the ER thing. Slowly but surely, my head stopped making turns and twists on it's own and I was able to open my eyes. It still hurt but it wasn't nearly as bad as before, thank god. No ER for me.

I turned to my rescuer to thank him. "I feel better now, thank yo- Ahh!" My thank you ended with a scream.

Jacob flinched at my high pitched squeal but kept his eyes on the road. "Yeah...You're welcome."

"No no no," I groaned, grabbing my head. "I feel worse."

He snorted at me and a small smile played on his lips. "Geez, I'll rescue you again when you're about to undergo the horrors of high school."

I couldn't help but chuckle."Yeah, after you injure me enough so I can't run away on my own!"

"Your head really okay though?" He asked, quite lightheartedly. "I heard how your skull hit the pavement," He winced a little. "Didn't sound too good."

"I've got quite the hard head," I joked, rubbing the sore spot. "But I'm fine."

"Okay, good." He nodded, still chuckling in amusement.

We were silent for a moment before both at the same time opening our mouths. "So- Oh sorry..."

I sighed. "Yeah, this is awkward."

"Yeah," Jacob said softly, more so to himself than to me. "I'm just driving to my place by the way, I don't think Sue'll be happy to see you back so soon... you can call Celeste when we get there."

"Ohh okay,"

We drove up to his house and I gazed at it, trying to remember how I used to imagine it in my head when I was reading the book. It had the same colors, but was shaped differently, which made me chuckle to myself. Jacob went inside to call Celeste, both him and I weren't keen on me meeting Billy, so I waited in the garage. I was scurrying about when I realized I didn't feel awkward, sure it felt weird, but I wasn't at all uncomfortable in this place, which wasn't a usual thing for me. I smiled to myself, maybe I felt so at home because the shed smelled like my father, a metal and oily smell that always hung around him because of his work as a truck mechanic. A big shape in the corner caught my eye, covered with a thick blanket. I wondered if Jacob was working on another project and eventually curiosity got the best of me and I walked up to it, lifting the blanket slightly to sneak a peek.

"Those are Bella and mine's," Jacob's voice echoed through the garage, just as my eyes were about to connect the bikes to my memories. I jumped and straightened, afraid he'd be upset that I was snooping around, but his face wasn't set angry at all. His lips were curled into an amused grin as he came up to me and removed the blanket all together.

I looked to the ground in shame. "Sorry, I was just curious about them."

He chuckled and shook his head. "They're just old motorcycles,"

 _"Ohh you have no idea,"_ I thought, glancing back at them in nostalgia.

"You like motorcycles?" He asked, patting one of the saddles. "I fixed these myself, almost from scrap."

"Really? You fixed them up?," I said, doing my best to sound surprised while knowing all about the process. "They look pretty good, n-not that I know anything about bikes..."

"You... Wanna see how it works?" Jacob didn't look at me while asking the question. "You know, until Celeste is here."

This is not a good ide- "Sure,"


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter seven.

* * *

I had no idea as to what had come over me, for me to agree to Jacob's offer to try out one of the bikes. This nice demeanor of his had the walls I thought I'd built so steadily crumbling down to the ground. He was glowing and grinning, talking about how he made the bike work and how he assembled the parts. I asked him questions about his other work and whenever I dared looking up at him, I met his kindly brown eyes, shining like stars. The feeling of belonging came over me, the feeling of safety. I couldn't hold my smile, remembering this must have been the Jacob that had been able to fix a very broken Bella. "Where'd you learn to fix stuff like this?"

"I'm mostly self-taught, but I used the internet too." He said, shrugging nonchalantly while the boyish pride was clearly audible in his voice.

"That's awesome," I murmured, watching him push the heavy bike across wet grass with ease. While reading, I never realized the actual size of the wolves, especially Jacob. He wasn't lean muscular, he was very broad shouldered and 'heavy' looking. More a strong man body type than a bodybuilders. I imagined that if either of the wolves decided to get into professional MMA or anything like that, they'd go undefeated forever. You wouldn't want to catch a blow from one of these guys, they'd actually break a few bones before you got to the ground. "How much money goes into a project like this?"

His shoulders shook as he chuckled. "Not that much I guess, just takes time to find the parts you need for the right price."

We finally reached a piece of dirt road and he set the motorcycle on its side, crouching down next to it and explaining what parts he'd added and how much they'd cost him. I listened and tried to ask questions, not really that familiar with motorcycles and the terms he used. I felt myself trying to compete with Bella, was I being more interested than her? Was I nicer? Did he like me more? Was I prettier? I shook my head and frowned. _"Cut it out Bridget."_

"That's about it, all together I guess it was around 200 bucks. But that's nothing compared to how much one of these would cost, even the used ones." His hand reached up to run through his short hair, he seemed to be thinking and I waited, trying hard to keep my eyes off him. "Oh right!" He exclaimed, making me jump. He chuckled and took a hold of the key. "Lemme show you how it works, you turn the key and then you turn this," the motorcycle came to life beneath his hands and all I could think off was how toned his arms were, holding it in place. My gaze must have made him uncomfortable because he cleared his throat, making me look up. "Eyes up here," He smirked.

I blinked a couple of times before realizing what he'd said, my face glowing a bright red before I was able to stutter a rebuttal."I-I wasn't I was just- ehm daydreaming- no! I mean..."

Jacob burst out laughing. "Yeah, I have that effect on people sometimes."

My eyes widened and I slapped a hand in front of my mouth, I gasped. "It-it's the motorcycle! It's so cool, really!"

"Uhuh," Was his sarcastic response, as he started to push the motorcycle forwards. "Come on,"

He led us to the end of the road where he basically tried to hand me the heavy bike. I hesitantly took a hold of one of the handles and looked at him, hoping the questioning desperation in my eyes would make him understand I wasn't about to actually climb up on this thing. Jacob scratched the back of his head and looked away, his whole face turning a deeper shade. "Why are you looking at me like that? Get on the bike..."

"I can't ride this,"

"Why not? I'll teach you, just get on."

"Ehhhh can't you show me first?" I asked, flashing him a shy smile.

He sighed deeply, almost as if he'd been holding his breath for a really long time. He still wasn't looking at me, doing his best to keep his head turned away. "I guess. I'll ride til the end there okay? Watch carefully, I'll only do it once."

I nodded and stared as he got on the bike and easily sped off. He was still riding with his back towards me when a shiver ran up my spine, I rubbed my arms, was it because Jacob was gone and his body heat wasn't reaching me anymore? I sighed and noticed my shoelace was untied, when I crouched down to tie it I could still hear the motorcycle in the distance. From the corner of my eye, I noticed a pair of black glossy shoes, just standing there. My heart sank into the pit of my stomach and my head shot up to follow the long legs, finding pale hands perfectly folded while his blood red eyes stared at me. The air in my lungs left them with a terrified gasp as the vampire a few feet away from me smirked.

"Hello little lamb," Never in my life had I heard a voice as smooth as warm butter, sound like nails on a chalkboard to me. "Where has the shepherds dog gone now? Leaving you all alone in the open."

I couldn't keep my eyes from flickering towards the road, trying to see Jacob as my heartbeat was preventing me from hearing the motorcycle's loud roar. He followed my gaze lazily, seemingly unafraid, he'd been waiting for this moment. He held out his hand to me, his eyes burning into mine. "You know what I want."

"D-Don't have i-it," I stuttered, trying to keep my breathing under control. How long had I been sitting here? It felt like hours, I'd been sitting there, looking up at him for hours.

He flashed his gleaming teeth in a irritated grimace, he shivered and shook his shoulders. "Give it to me, now."

I shook my head softly. "I-I don-"

Before I knew it I was off the ground and in the air, the back of my neck burning because of the fabric cutting into it. He'd grabbed the front of my t-shirt, lifting me off the ground with ease and bringing me above his eye-level, glaring at me with such a fiery gaze it actually felt like I was being lit on fire. "Where," He snarled, slightly shaking me.

"D-Don't know," I grunted out, trying to take hold of his wrist to relieve the pain of the fabric cutting into my neck.

"Don't touch me," He growled, shaking me even harder while I yelped in pain. "Where!?"

At that moment I was thrown onto the ground, my shoulder making the most awful popping sound when I hit the sandy road. The sand shook around me as did the ground itself, while my ears were ringing from the fall, I tried to lift my head. It felt like I'd been hit by a truck, had a car come and ran into us? I felt like I'd flown a few feet, the area I was lying in was different than the one I'd been in before, that's what I thought at least.

I was able to turn onto my side but gasped when I accidentally touched my arm, I looked down and groaned. It was hanging there all weird, for a moment I thought my whole shoulder had been broken off but I was still able to move my fingers. Someone came to an abrupt halt next to me and put a warm pair of fingers beneath my chin, making me look them in the eyes, warm brown eyes flickering all over my face while the rest of his features looked extremely worried as well. His mouth moved and he looked at me, waiting for an answer while I was absolutely hypnotized by his face. His hand rose to brush away the hair covering my right eye and I sucked in a breath, remembering I had to breath in order to stay conscious.

His hand moved to my bad arm and he looked at it for a moment, before looking back. He was moving his lips again, talking, to me? Someone else crouched down, touching my arm, making me yelp. Jacob's lip curled at the other person and he snapped something at them, pushing them away with his arm before carefully wrapping it around me. He lifted me against him and... it felt incredible, I closed my eyes for a moment, my ear against his chest. His heartbeat was racing, I felt it thump on my cheek.

"Bridget?" Someone touched my face, someone who was not Jacob, because their hands were cold. "Wake up darling," The person sighed in relieve. "It's Sue darling, open your eyes."

I opened my eyes and slowly lifted my head from the pillow, it wasn't my bed though and this wasn't my room. I lifted my arm, still feeling quite sore. "What happened?"

"Sam popped your shoulder back in," Sue said matter of factly. "This va- man, tried to attack you outside on the road... remember?"

The vampire guy. It must have been the same guy Celeste had been so scared of, he knew who I was and had been following me. "Yeah, I remember."

"Do you... do you know who he was Bridget?" Sue asked, her voice grim and serious. Her eyes sought mine as she took a hold of my hand.

"N-no," I shook my head, a good excuse to not look Sue in the eye as I lied to her once more. "Where am I?"

She smiled apologetically, her eyes filling with emotion. "At Sam and Emily's home. It seemed best to us if you stayed here for now, with the boys and Celeste... Jacob."

"Why?" I asked. Sitting up, my mouth agape. "You don't want me at your house anymore? Because I skipped school?"

Sue pulled me into a tight hug. "It's not about that silly girl. You're safer here for now, this man, he hasn't been caught. What if he came by our house? I couldn't protect you. Get some more rest, I'll see you tomorrow alright?"

I nodded, putting my head back onto the pillow and falling asleep almost instantly.

* * *

"Morning Bridget," Celeste's voice came from close by. I started in bed, hitting my head against wall I'd been sleeping close to. "Ouch, you okay?"

"Sure," I grumbled. "For someone who literally looked death in the eyes yesterday, I feel pretty okay."

Celeste gave me a sheepish grin before sitting down on the bed, right next to me. "You went all escape artist on Seth too,"

I snorted at the title, 'Escape artist'. "Trust me, there wasn't anything artistic about that escape. Is Seth angry at me?"

"No, he was telling everyone about it when you were up here yesterday. He sounded more impressed than anything else to be honest." She giggled, probably imagining me climbing up the toilet and squeezing through the tiny window. "So... Jacob carried you over here. That's a major development happening since the speed-up. You gotta move quickly though, I think Bella is coming home soon."

"Is she pregnant?" I asked, sitting up straight. "Wait... you noticed the speed-up too?"

"Of course," Celeste gave me a strange look. "And I don't know, I only know she'll come back soon because the weeks are almost over."

"Huh,"

Her grin widened and she leaned in. "Worried about Jacob going after Bella?"

I scoffed and almost choked on the air I sucked in. "Wha- no! Of course not, I'm not worried about any of that, you're literally insane!"

"Don't worry about it," She whispered. "You know she'll always pick Edward."

"Don't know how to feel about that," I mumbled. How are you supposed to like a guy who'll only accept you if his childhood sweetheart is, well, dead? Sounds like a very extreme second choice, no one dreams of being.

After freshening up Celeste took me around the home, showing me all the rooms, telling me which was which. Eventually she led me downstairs, giving me a look that said 'remember to keep quiet about me or us' I just nodded. Obviously I couldn't tell anyone about our situation now, it'd bring them in even more danger. But I did wonder what the pack was going to think of me, I didn't know what to say either, so I hoped they just came up with something.

They were all there, waiting for me. _"Here we go,"_

"Bridget," Sam started, his face as serious as could be. "Sit down, we have to talk about what happened."

Nodding, I sat down on the couch. I painfully aware of Jacob sitting at the kitchen table, his face turned away from me. Was everything going back to how it was now? Was he going to act like nothing ever happened? I mean, I wasn't expecting him to stand at the foot of the stairs with a bright smile 'Hey babe, I'm so happy to see you're okay!', but we were sort of friends now, weren't we? Maybe he was thinking about Bella, wanting to see her or thinking of how he could take her away from Edward. "I don't know if I can tell you much more than was seen," I lied to the pack of wolves, hoping they'd pick up my changing heartbeat as fear and not a lie.

"You didn't know that..." Sam paused for a moment. "Man?"

I shook my head. "No, never seen him in my life. There was something odd about him, besides that he tried to hurt me out of nowhere, it was like he'd been waiting there. I bend down to tie my shoelace and suddenly he was standing there..."

He nodded, while the rest of the pack looked guiltily towards the floor. "Anything else you noticed about him?"

"He, this is going to sound crazy, but he had red eyes." I said, trying to sound like I barely believed it myself. "Like blood red, with the coldest hands."

"There is something you need to know now this has happened to you Bridget," Sam said, looking around the pack for a moment before folding his hands. "The man that tried to attack you, he was a vampire."

"What?" I said, making my eyes widen. "I don't... This wasn't a Halloween prank Sam. He grabbed me by my shirt and lifted me from the ground. L-like I was nothing more than a feather."

Celeste send me a quick nod from behind Paul, showing me my lies were working, since she knew the pack better than me. She stepped in. "Bridget," she said. "There's more, the guys here," She paused, slightly nodding again, letting me know what she was going to say. "They're werewolves,"

I sat back in the kitchen chair and blew out a breath, closing my eyes, I shook my head. "I can't believe you're all making some big joke out of this situation."

Sam put his hand on my good shoulder. "I know it might be hard to believe, but we can show you."

"You don't need a full moon?" I asked, trying to sound sarcastic.

He chuckled and shook his head. "Follow me outside."

"I'll do it," Jacob spoke up for the first time since I got downstairs. "It has to be me."

"Okay Jake," Sam nodded. "We'll wait inside."

Jacob stormed out the house and I followed him, he stalked to the side of the house where he right away started to take off his clothes. Making me blush a bright red. "Wait! I thought you were gonna show me your party-trick."

He snorted humorlessly. "I am, but I don't want to tear up these pants. Stay there and watch, very carefully."

Before I could answer him, he morphed into this huge rust colored wolf, making me take a couple of steps back. My amazement wasn't feigned, I hadn't actually seen the wolves up close before and it was intimidating, but amazing at the same time. "Wow," I breathed, looking at the wolf while he stared back, taking in my reaction. Jacob morphed back into his human form and I looked away, my face an even brighter red than before. "Okay, I believe you guys."

"There's one more thing I have to tell you, Bridget."

"Oh no," I whispered. I took a few steps back, he wasn't going to talk about the imprinting was he? "I-I think I've had enough surprises for one day to be frank."

Jacob's face didn't change and he stepped up to me as soon as his pants were back on. "It's important, it's part of being a wolf like this... I don't have any control over it, I've been fighting to stay away from you but it makes me so restless. I have to be near to you."

"Now really isn't a good time," I squeaked, not prepared for the imprint talk.

"You know what imprinting is Bridget?" He asked, looking away to the forest.

 _"What am I going to tell him? Do I want to be with him? What about Bella?"_ My mind was racing, this was most definitely not what I wanted when I escaped from that bathroom stall.


	9. Chapter 9

Charmed

* * *

While my mind scrambled for a solution, Jacob continued his story. His face had grown incredibly dark and I thought I saw the tiniest hint of shame somewhere in those eyes, even though they were looking at something behind me. The words he spoke were forced through his clenched teeth, with trembling fists at his side. "It's this thing some animals do, but us werewolves do too. You... meet someone and they instantly become a part of you, they become your whole world."

Tears started to collect in my eyes, my nose prickling. What I wouldn't have given for someone to speak these words to me in another situation, another world. Someone who would do anything for you, only want and think of you, being an imprint seemed like the way into a semi perfect life with a companion who'll stay by your side through anything. Maybe if it had been someone else, I would have considered staying here like Celeste. But Jacob, even though I was his imprint, was still obsessed with Bella. He didn't want to let her go, I wasn't supposed to be here and when Renesmee is born, who's to say she won't be his imprint as well? The story was so warped at this point, if I would stay I'd have to compete with this beautiful immortal being for the rest of my life.

"I," Jacob halted, he seemed to think of something and my heart fluttered against my ribs. "I've imprinted on Bella, I don't know why or how you keep clinging onto me. But I'm someone else's." His eyes were like stone as they stared into me. "So, keep your distance from now on."

I don't know what hurt more. Knowing that I couldn't even get a guy to like me despite this supernatural force basically sticking me to him, or that he was lying to me so bluntly, so easily. Either way, my self-esteem was crushed and my earlier thought of not wanting to be a second choice anyways, held me from bursting into tears. Why I was so hurt by this situation was beyond me, how could Jacob already be able to move me to this point? The imprint was affecting me more than I could have imagined, but somehow he was able to get over it. Shouldn't I be able to do that as well then? A bitter laugh escaped my lips and in my hurt state I wanted to fire back at him, Bella would never be his, he was fooling himself. But what did it matter to me? I would find someone who wouldn't lie to me or hurt me like this, at home, where I belonged. "Clinging onto you? Don't flatter yourself just because I was nice to you."

With that, I turned around and walked back into the house. My heart was hurting, a feeling that strangely seemed fiction and at the same time was present so very clearly. Everyone was quiet, they had probably been listening to the conversation through the kitchen window. "I'm going back to bed for a while,"

Celeste seemed more sad than me, a few tears running down her cheeks as Paul consoled her. Her eyes met mine and I shook my head once, a gesture only she understood. I wasn't going to stay here with her. I couldn't. She buried her face into her wolf's shoulder and he kissed her on the head. Paul was a gentle soul beneath all that anger, I wondered if he could ever lie to Celeste the way she had to him.

I stayed in bed all day, not touching the food I'd been brought and doing my best to cry quietly. The office had left me to this universe, if I didn't find my switchers, I'd be stuck here forever and everything I worked for and dreamt of at home had been for nothing. "You'd think it doesn't hurt so much, realizing you've only really seen him a few times." Celeste walked into the room and I sighed.

"It's the unnatural imprint thing, it'll fade at home." I said sternly.

She was quiet for a while before whispering. "Wouldn't you leaving the universe feel as though you've died, to Jake?"

My teeth clenched and I wanted to shout at her, what in the hell did I care what it'd feel like to him!? "Not my problem."

"He's stubborn, you know that." She continued. "He carried you in here, the way he held you Bridget... The imprint is stronger to him than it is to you, he'll-"

"Grow to accept it?" I spat at last, anger taking over my tongue. "Accept that I am the imprint, instead of perfect Bella whom he has pined after for basically all his life!?" I shook my head. "Or do I have to accept my stay here, have him give into the imprint when she's dead or moved away and live with the fact he'll always wish it had been her?"

Celeste was quiet for a while, her gaze turned to the ground while she thought of something to say. "He can't... want her, when Renesmee was born he forgot about Bella. He's being like this because Bella is still alive, but he doesn't know for how long." She took a hold of my hand, squeezing it tightly while looking into my eyes. "Don't beat yourself up over this."

I gave her a sad smile and nodded. "I won't."

The conversation soon turned around, it was fun hearing the small adventures Celeste had lived through. She'd been working in the anime building for the first year, a whole other office since the genre was so big and divided. The people that worked there even had different training and other switchers, but this mostly depended on what department they were in. Celeste had mostly done short, light anime's before switching to romance at our office. That night we stayed up til about three in the morning, talking about home and the universes we'd been, where we would have wanted to go. "Ever been to Hogwarts?" She asked.

"That's from the Magic department, not Supernatural." I said, chuckling at her disappointed gaze. "I guess I've seen plenty of Supernatural creatures, but they're all pretty much on their own and they like it that way."

"What about Romance? Twilight was my first and last one, sadly. I would have loved to see Pretty Woman up close or anything else for that matter!" She sighed, rubbing her face. "I really liked doing this job, it was like a dream com true... I went from zero with nothing to show for it to someone with an actual big secret, I felt so uplifted and happy in those days. Anime wasn't that bad either, gosh, some of those guys! And the outfits, the way I looked in those universes, it was amazing. Now I'm just back to the old boring me."

I shook my head. "You have Paul as your huge werewolf boyfriend! I mean, that's not anywhere near boring. He seems sweet and he'll be so good to you."

Celeste looked at me with guilt ridden eyes. "I just... Paul has certain expectations, expectations that aren't too high. He wants some sort of Emily, cooking and taking care of kids. I just... When I got hired into the office I felt like I'd broken free from those things, I'd work myself up the chain and become a supervisor. I'd always stay in the line of work, it was what I loved."

My bottom lip started trembling, I knew exactly what she was talking about. She looked and acted as though she'd accepted it all, but in the end, she was also ripped away from her life and her passion. "We're not stuck here Celeste, we can still go home."

"I could never leave Paul, Bridget." She whispered, her eyes tearing up. "I am stuck here."

 _"I am stuck here."_

Her words haunted my mind the rest of the night, I tossed and turned, tried to sing all the songs I knew but that sentence kept coming back. I hadn't been able to say anything in that moment, because what would have been the thing to make her happy? The truth was as she said, she was stuck here, when it came to it she would have to choose between the love of her life and going back to the place she called home. Staying here would kill all her dreams, but at least she'd have Paul? Perhaps that's why she was still feeling relieved my Switchers were gone, now she didn't have to make a choice, she didn't have to betray any part of her. Maybe I was lucky Jacob wasn't giving into the imprint, what would I have done if he had been like Paul? Work was something I loved, but my alone time at home was something I dreaded. Maybe if Jacob had been more the companion I ached for, I would have stayed given I'd even get that choice. Maybe if I opened up more, if I tried, would he see that we're good together?

Pffff what the hell was I even thinking? As if that would change Jacob's mind, he was more stubborn than the stubbornest mule!

It felt like I'd blinked and woken up to bright sunlight in one second. Before realizing what had happened, I turned on my side to catch some more sleep, only to find Celeste staring at me. I jumped and squealed, suddenly wide awake. "W-what are you doing?"

"There was another Speed up, something is about to happen! Get out of bed." She left the room again, leaving my mind reeling.

I got dressed in a hurry, my mind not all there. Was Bella back? Was she still human or had she been changed? How was the story going to develop from now on, what would Jacob do if Bella came back? I stared at myself in the mirror, dark circles under my eyes and wild strings of hair sticking out from the bun on top of my head. I was nothing like Bella, I wasn't cute and clumsy. Clumsy is only cute on cute girls. I was a walking disaster, tripping over my own feet. I had been kidding myself, thinking that maybe, just maybe Jacob would be the one to take away my loneliness. He was the one that made it worse, unbearable. When I got downstairs everyone, except Celeste were acting normal, they hadn't noticed the speed up and neither me nor Celeste knew what the timeline was. How many days or weeks had gone by again? "Morning," I said a bit awkwardly.

Emily gave me a wide smile, one that said more than one day had passed. She acted as though she really knew me. "Morning Bridget, you want eggs or pancakes? The boys are about to come in, so be quick!"

"I'll help myself," I said, when as if on cue, a whole bunch of giants stormed the tiny kitchen.

"Hey Bridget," Embry said, his tone light but his eyes guarded. "Glad to see you're up,"

I made a gesture of not understanding what he meant but he waved it off, quickly turning his gaze elsewhere. I followed the line of sight he'd had before that and saw a rigid looking Jacob at the kitchen door. For a moment I stood there with my plate not really sure what to do or what to say. "Thanks Embry," I said quietly, before sitting on the couch in the living room next to a wide eyed Celeste. She tapped me in secret, her gaze piercing and questioning. I shrugged, implying I didn't know what was going on either. When Jacob's body visibly stiffened, I started to get a hunch. "Will you sit here? With us?" I asked Embry, who in turn got very wide eyed.

He swallowed loudly, the whole lively kitchen had gone quiet. "T-that's okay, I had a seat next to eh- next to Quil,"

"Alright," I said, doing my best to sound disappointed.

Celeste suddenly caught onto what I was doing and she got a terrifying grin on her face. "The kitchen's so crowded, here." She patted the spot between us. "You'll fit right in here."

"I-eh I don't."

"Just sit down," I said, laughing at his hesitation.

Embry finally seemed to give in and made a movement towards us, when Sam loudly cleared his throat and the young man hurried across the room to sit at the kitchen table. I looked at Celeste before looking at the trembling form in the door opening, Jacob was glaring daggers at Embry, who was seemingly trying to avoid eye contact with him at any cost. I narrowed my eyes and looked at my friend, who looked extremely pleased. She bumped into me, as if saying 'See? He's jealous'. I didn't know how to feel about that, a little glad that he was not totally over our 'thing' but mad as well, he didn't have the right to be jealous like that. After all, he was the one that said I should stop 'clinging' onto him and said he was someone else's. I was peeved and had the urge to call him out on it, but I kept my mouth shut, only shooting him the angriest glare I could muster.

His eyebrows raised before he snorted and sat down on the nearest chair. I pursed my lips and looked at Celeste, widening my eyes and trying to get the question across through my expression. _"Can you believe that asshole?"_

She shook her head, also seeming a bit annoyed at the power play that had just taken place. I saw her eyes meet Paul's, at least that must have been what happened, because he quickly looked away with a guilty expression. We both sat in silence, thinking about what we should do next, or me especially. I wasn't about to let Jacob win this silly game he started for some reason. Actually, it probably did have a reason; annoying the hell out of me. And it worked. I rolled my eyes in annoyance before something popped into my mind, Embry wasn't allowed to even sit near me? Well, I didn't care about that because I- "Are you excited for your date Sunday?"

I jumped at Celeste's question, as if she had read my mind. I grinned and nodded, not looking at the men at the table. "A little, I mean I don't know what to wear yet and what should I do with my hair?"

"We can go shopping tomorrow!" She squealed and patted my head a little. "I'll do your hair, we can do bouncy curls or straighten it or-"

The was a bang from the table and we both looked over to see Jacob standing, his chair had fallen backwards and his body was trembling. I couldn't contain the eye roll that escaped as a reflex to his annoying behavior, what right did he have to act this jealous? "Did you just roll your eyes at me?" He growled through ground teeth, his eyes closed as he spoke.

I pursed my lips for a moment, Sam shook his head at me, telling me not to provoke Jacob anymore, but I was done with him being a diva. "So what if I did? I'm trying to have a conversation over here and you're acting all dramatic at the dinner table, can't even make plans with you in the room."

Jacob shot out of the front door, the home trembling. "Bye!" I yelled after him, feeling triumphant. "And stay away!"

The guys looked at me like they'd just seen a ghost, their mouths open and faces paled. Emily was the first one to clear her throat and put some more food on the table. "I-eh I didn't know you were talking to anyone," She said carefully.

"Yep." I lied swiftly. "I met him the other day and we hit it off."

"He's a really nice guy, he's in my biology class. His name's-"

"Don't!" Sam yelled, making everyone jump. He sat back in his chair and cleared his throat. "W-we don't need every detail Celeste, thank you."

Celeste and I sat in silence, realizing Sam was trying to keep the name of my non-existent date a secret to protect said date from a certain angry wolf. But that aside, we now had another problem. I had to either find a real date, fake one or give Jacob the satisfaction of telling everyone it was canceled. I had to find a date.

We were in my room when Celeste, once again, read my mind. "I know someone that'll go on a date with you, he's kinda creepy but you don't actually have to... you know, do anything with him, it's the first date!"

"Okay," I breathed, hoping the guy she was talking about wouldn't get his hoped up. "You're on this?"

She grinned, her eyes glowing with mischief. "Oh yeah."

* * *

We went shopping the next day, I didn't get anything too fancy, just a red sweater and a new red lipstick to match. At home Celeste insisted on doing my make up and hair, just like she'd said the other day. She curled my hair in pretty ringlets before spraying in a shit ton of hairspray to keep them that nice. We both coughed and laughed at the mist of hairspray around us. "If that doesn't do it, I don't know what will." I mumbled while she put mascara on my lashes. "You don't think it's too much?"

I looked at the finished product and felt a little self conscious, for a fake date, this seemed a little over the top. I made eye contact with Celeste in the mirror. "Maybe I shouldn't wear make up... or ditch the red lip?"

"No way," She said in a threatening tone. "You gotta make it look like you're making an effort for this guy."

"Right. Where do I meet him anyway?" I asked, suddenly nervous because I had no clue about the whole thing. Celeste had put everything together in the blink of an eye, but it was suspicious that the guy just went along with the whole date thing since he'd never met me. I wasn't exactly a model either, did he just go along by seeing a picture of me?

"At the restaurant. He plays alot of video games and his mom's been complaining, I overheard him talking a while ago. So when he goes on a date, she'll shut up for a few weeks. Don't worry so much!"

"You're a mind reader, aren't you?" I asked, my eyes widening.

She shrugged and giggled. "Everything you think is like, right there, on your face."

"I should work on that," I murmured to myself in the mirror. "Fine, let's do this."

Celeste walked me to the restaurant and Paul picked her up from there because it was already getting dark, I waved to them as they drove off and pursed my lips, contemplating if I should go inside already or wait for my date. He was very skinny, not much taller than me and wore glasses. I'd recognize him if I'd seen him but he wasn't in the restaurant yet, so I decided to wait outside, in case he didn't show and everyone inside would know I got stood up. We were supposed to meet at seven, and I got here at five past seven. I had been waiting around thirty minutes while the weather cooled down greatly and I was glad I'd gotten a sweater instead of a thin blouse. I leaned on the wall, near the entrance and got out my phone to check the time again, forty minutes had passed me by and no sign of my date. I sighed and tried not to feel too hurt by this, I mean, it wasn't a real date, we were both just trying to fool someone else. I did feel silly, getting all done up when he'd arrive an hour late in sweats or something.

Finally there was someone coming this way who resembled him. I didn't get my hopes too far up though, there'd been several people that came towards me and had me thinking it was him like the hopeless stood up chick I was. A car quickly sped up from the opposite direction and I paid no attention to it until the driver stopped right next to me and violent threw the door to the passenger's side open. "Get in the car."

"Uhm no thank you, kidnapper?" I said sarcastically, pushing the door closed again.

Jacob swung it open again. "He left you waiting for a freaking hour, ditch the guy."

How the hell did he know that? "Psh, I'll decide what to do with him myself."

"Please just get in," His eyes met mine and the softness in his voice made my legs quiver.

I looked at the guy approaching and sure enough, he was wearing sweatpants, his hair wildly flipping everywhere as if he'd just left his bed. "You're lucky I'm cold," I sighed and got into his car.

We drove in silence while I stared out the window, his radiating heat warming me up again to the point my cheeks were feeling a bit fiery. I dared peeking at his reflection in the window, he was looking straight ahead, his knuckles white as his hands squeezed the steering wheel with a deadly grip. There was something endearing, even when he looked like he was about to explode, there was a pulling in my chest and an itching in my hands. I wanted to touch him, be held by him, I wanted to make him laugh or at least make him feel better. I knew there wasn't anything I could do that would make him feel better, Bella was on his mind, surely. I knew that whatever future he thought he still had with her was never going to be reality. Jacob sighed and caught my eye in the reflection, he quickly looked away again before once again making eye contact. "We're just gonna talk somewhere okay? Don't worry."

"Sure," I said, suddenly feeling overwhelmed because I hadn't been paying attention to where we were going at all.

"Alright," He drove up to a parking lot and when he opened his door I smelled and heard the sea.

He walked around and opened the car door on my side and I hesitated. "You're not going to drown me, are you?"

A genuine smile appeared on his face and he only shook his head, holding out his hand for me to take it. I softly took on his offer and even before our hands touched, there was a surge of warmth exploding within my skin. Jacob seemed to shiver as well and I imagined he felt the same feeling as we touched. I had been so enchanted by the sudden kindness, I didn't stop to think about what it was he brought me here for exactly. Was he going to tell me to leave him alone again or to move away, maybe he knew my date was fake and he wanted to tell me to stop provoking him. What exactly had I been provoking him for? Was I really that angry he turned me down? I had alot to blame on the imprint thing, but it felt like the jealousy for Bella and the fake date to annoy him were more me than anything else. Perhaps it had been too manipulating, he must have seen what I was trying to do when I invited Embry to sit with me. I could lecture him on things he'd done or been doing, but I hadn't exactly been a saint either.

I felt smaller than I already was, following Jacob to the sand. He was very tense and I would be lying if I wasn't a little scared of what he'd do, even though I knew this was Jacob and I had read about him and fantasized about him when I was younger. He wasn't going to hurt me, not in a physical way at least. When he stopped, I stopped, keeping some distance between us. He kept quiet, putting his hands in his pockets and looking from me to the waves. I eventually couldn't take the weird silence anymore. "W-what did you want to talk about?"

"I'm sorry I've been treating you like an idiot," He blurted out quickly, looking at the sand. "You-I... I know you feel it too and I've been a dick and I lied about Bella. I realized I'm about as trapped as you are, maybe you even more because I have-even though I pushed you as far away as possible, I've been sorta jealous... alot."

My heart was hammering in my chest as I looked around for anyone with a camera or some sort of clue as to where this all came from. Was I even ready for this? I mean, I had been pushing for this, for Jacob to at least not hate me. I shook my head, feeling a bit overwhelmed. "I-I don't-"

"You're my imprint, Bridget." He said, our eyes meeting and it felt like time stood still for a moment.

He closed the distance between us and hesitated a little before touching one of the curls Celeste had made. I held my breath when I looked up at him, trying to read his face like everyone else always did mine. His eyes were soft and shone in the dim light of the moon, yet there was a serious edge to them. His hands slid under my arms and he slowly, a bit awkwardly, pulled me closer and wrapped his arms around my waist. I was dwarfed by his stature, my ear against his hammering heart while in this sudden embrace. I put my arms around him the best I could, grabbing the fabric of his shirt for some grip since my hands couldn't meet on his back. He shivered and pulled me even closer, standing up straight and lifting me in the air by doing so. As a reflex I put my arms around his neck, he relaxed into me and rested his head on one of my shoulders. I closed my eyes and leaned my head against his, reveling in the warmth and the feeling of completion.

I had no idea how long it had been, but at some point I started to wonder if Jacob had fallen asleep. My legs were starting to feel restless, dangling in the air like that, but I was a little nervous of letting go. What were we now? Were we dating or was this a one time thing? I lifted my head slightly from his and he did the same, cold air hitting my neck again and I shivered. "Your feet must be freezing," He chuckled, softly putting me on the ground where my legs felt like pudding. My head felt so light, for a moment I thought I was actually going to faint. Jacob was also having a little trouble coming back to the real world, slowly walking to his car as if he was about to fall over. "You coming?"

"Y-Yeah," I hurried after him and quickly got into the car. "So..."

"You're gonna look at me with those big eyes all the way home?" He asked, chuckling at my still bewildered expression.

"I-I... Probably."


	10. Chapter 10

**What are we?**

* * *

Jacob dropped me off at Sam and Emily's home, I said bye to him and was about to get out of the car when he grabbed my hand. "Talk to you tomorrow?"

His puppy dog eyes were wide with questioning and I nodded. "Yeah, sure."

I was a bit dazed from the whole ordeal that had taken place, thoughts just storming through my head like a merciless hurricane. When I entered the home, both Celeste and Emily swarmed around me, Celeste flung herself around my neck almost dragging me to the floor. "What happened!? Kevin told me you got into a car with some shady guy and-"

"I was with Jacob," I said, my voice sounding far away to my own ears.

The both of them looked at me like they saw water burning in front of their eyes, jaws dropped and their eyes were wide as a deer caught in headlights. They stammered some questions, sometimes even asking each other questions. "What happened!?"

I blinked and my cheeks flushed. "W-we hugged and-"

They squealed and trapped me in an awkward hug. "We told you he'd turn around! He's a big softy, he finally gave up on trying to fight it!"

"Yeah," I laughed a bit awkwardly. "I'm really tired, I'm calling an early night okay?"

"Sure," They both said at the same time, both sounding disappointed.

I chuckled at their curiosity and made my way up the stairs, gliding my hand along the rail, feeling the textures while my mind was far away. I washed off the make up and got rid of the stiff hairspray curls under the shower. I was feeling extremely lightheaded and exhausted, as if I had been hanging upside down all day. Letting myself fall onto the bed I tightly hugged my pillow, trying to calm the butterflies in my stomach. I turned on my back and stared at the dark ceiling, trying to get things in order in my head. Did I really want this? This wasn't a fantasy crush anymore, something to daydream about, this was really happening. Did I still want to go home, _would_ I go home if I got my Switcher back? Did Jacob mean all this, what made him change his mind? What about Bella? If we were going to be dating I wouldn't want him constantly around her, or worse, have him hug her to keep her warm. "Holy shit, screw Bella," I muttered, suddenly angry at her. How would I stop that from happening, what would I do if it happened!?

Shaking my head I tried to get rid of the rage I was feeling over things that might not even happen in the end. I closed my eyes and thought of how Jacob had embraced me, putting his head on my shoulder, lifting me up as if I weighed nothing more than a feather. That look in his eyes when he asked if we could talk tomorrow- wait! What did he want to talk about, did he want to take those things back? Did he want to talk about where we would go from here? Like what did that mean, was it a date, did I have to do my hair because it was a tangled mess right there and then. I fell into a somewhat peaceful sleep eventually, my thoughts kept returning to the hug we had shared, no matter how I tried to think of something else.

The next morning I woke up, feeling bewildered and wiping a whole bunch of drool off my cheek. It was already past noon and I had a vague memory of Emily and Celeste telling me they were going grocery shopping, but I wasn't quite sure if that hadn't been part of some weird dream. I got up from bed and got ready, deciding against any make up or fancy clothing, I dressed in my everyday clothes and got downstairs. I helped myself to some food before sitting on the couch and watching TV, trying to calm my nerves, when would he get here?

The thought had just entered my mind and the front door opened, I jumped but then heard the person rummage through the kitchen. Laughing, I walked into the kitchen. "Emily? Phew, I thought you were- gah!"

Jacob raised his eyebrow at me, a bemused smile playing on his lips. "You thought it was me?"

"N-no," I lied terribly. "An intruder perhaps..."

"Sure," He laughed, taking another huge bite from the apple he'd managed to find. "So, you wanna hang out? I'm on the night shift so..."

He trailed off and I swallowed loudly. "Sure! I mean, I guess?"

Was he suggesting we spend the whole day together? What if it got awkward? He smiled a bright smile and we went off to the beach first, we took off our shoes and walked along the waves. Jacob talked about the motorcycle, how he still had to let me take a ride and I nervously laughed it off, hoping he wasn't really serious about that. "So how do you like Forks anyways? It's different from Seattle isn't it?"

I had to think about his question for a moment. "It is different... from home, very different. I mean, I don't really know how or why but it has something..."

"Don't you miss the city?" He asked genuinely.

"No," I answered lightly, not actually missing the city or my apartment as much as my job. "The city is nice when you like going out or you have tons of friends that come over every other day."

"You didn't-"

I shook my head. "Not really. I was kind of a loner, still am I suppose."

Jacob nodded and chuckled, I looked at him with a sly eye. "There's nothing wrong with doing your own thing," He explained quickly.

"Guess not," I shrugged, trying to play it cool while I knew how hard it had been for me to be alone all that time. "What about you? You always want to stay here?"

"My dad won't leave this place, but it's not too bad." He said, looking off into the distance. "I'll just take some trips here and there when the time comes,"

"Sounds fun," I smiled and pointed up one finger. "If you could go anywhere, where would you go?"

"Alaska," He said straight away, no hesitation whatsoever.

I burst out laughing in surprise while he sheepishly scratched the back of his head. "No offense, but I thought you'd be running off to like... Indonesia or something! Alaska is pretty doable."

His eyebrows raised and he chuckled. "Doable?"

"Yeah, I think I'd like Alaska." I explained. "Nature is supposed to be gorgeous and untouched, there's very few people around, sounds like my kinda place."

"It's cold though," He chimed in.

"I'll just wear a pair of those fluffy socks?" I said while Jacob tilted his head a little, not really getting it. "You know? The really soft ones?"

He shook his head. "I don't think fluffy socks are gonna protect you from that kinda cold."

I laughed and made an effort to look serious. "Trust me, if fluffy socks don't do it I don't know what will."

"I do," He said, grinning at me with a boyish cheekiness.

My cheeks flushed to a bright red and I stammered through a come back, only for him to burst out laughing. I sighed and eventually joined in, having fun before I tripped over my own feet and landed face first in the sand. Jacob turned around to the thud I made and I glared at him while wiping sand from my mouth, he was laughing so hard he had to hold his stomach. I held out my hand to have him lift me up, but he was so weak from laughing I pulled him into the damp sand right next to me. He stopped laughing after a while and smiled at me, I tentatively smiled back and he squeezed the hand he was still holding onto. "This isn't weird right?"

"It's a little strange, but I don't think one should expect any different from a shapeshifter." I sighed, looking at the edge of the beach and shaking some sand from my hair. "Or maybe it's just because it's new,"

"Yeah," He agreed, his eyes shining brightly as he stared up at the clouded sky. "Hey, you wanna go for a swim?"

My eyes bulged and I stared at him. "Are you insane? The water is freezing!"

"I'll hold you, you'll be okay," He said, something in his voice sounded different.

I seriously contemplated it for a moment but when some of the water touched my toe I shook my head. "I'll pass."

"Alright then," He got up and brushed some sand of his pants before holding his hand out to me. I took it and he hoisted me up into his arms. "Hold on!"

"Wha-Jacob no! No! No!" I clung onto his warm form in the cold water and he wrapped his arms around me like yesterday. Resting his head on my shoulder again, he pressed me closer and the tension in my body fell away, I melted against him. "It's not that cold like this," I mumbled, pressing my cold cheek into his warm neck.

He shivered but I doubt it was from the cold. "I can't believe I fought against this for so long,"

I wanted to say something, but bit my lip instead. The question as to why he suddenly turned around felt hot on my tongue, but I was too afraid of the answer so I tightened my grip around his neck to signal I had heard his words and understood them. Eventually I started shivering despite Jacob's warmth and he seemed to woken up by that, leading us back to the beach where the cold air and the loss of his hug when he put me down had my teeth chattering. I rubbed my arms up and down, trying to warm them up a bit. "I could use a pair of those fluffy socks right now," I joked through my uncontrollable shaking jaw.

He wrapped an arm around my shoulder. "I'm so sorry, I didn't-I wasn't thinking straight."

"It's fine," I laughed, secretly hoping he would take me into his arms again.

"Let's go to my place," He said, hurrying towards the car.

"The seats will get all wet," I frowned, looking at my drenched clothes.

He rolled his eyes and waved for me to hurry up. "They'll dry, come on!"

I got into the car and he quickly drove us to his place, nonchalantly telling me on the way there that his dad wouldn't be there. I raised an eyebrow at him but he swore he didn't plan anything out like that and I believed him. Inside the house he turned the heat up and got me a towel and some of his clothes to put on. I was glad he'd handed me a thick sweater because my bra was itching like crazy because of the water and sand. Quickly drying and dressing myself in his small bathroom, I was quickly warming up again. "That feels much better," I said, sitting next to him on the couch.

He send me a nervous smile and threw a blanket over me. "Here, that's gotta warm you up in no time."

In a moment of bravery and maybe even stupidity, I closed the distance between us and sat against him. He moved his arm so I could huddle even closer and I put my head softly on his chest, feeling his heart hammer against my ear. His arm wrapped around me tighter and I looked up, he was looking down at me with such a content gaze, I blushed even brighter than I already was. "W-what are we," I murmured, almost hoping he didn't hear.

"We're dating... right?" Jacob said, his voice a bit higher at the end of the question.

I nodded, satisfied with the answer. We watched TV and at some point Jacob had taken a hold of my hand, rubbing it in a very soothing way while the thumb of his other hand drew circles on my shoulder, needless to say, I was tricked into a nap. The TV was still on and the clanking sounds from the radiator were in the background, Jacob's breathing and heartbeat had become regular as well, lulling me into an even deeper sleep, knowing he was sleeping as well. I awoke, what must have been a few hours later, to him stirring and looked up, he was blushing furiously and I blinked a couple of times, trying to adjust to the sudden darkness in the room. "Why hello Bridget," A voice said, I jumped from Jacob's embrace and found Billy had come home from wherever he had been, a very amused smile on his face while his eyes moved between the two of us. "Billy," He held out his hand. "It nice to finally meet you,"

Quickly shaking his hand, I tried to regain some control over my voice. "It's eh-ahem nice to meet you too,"

"Are you staying over for dinner?" He asked, already making his way over to the kitchen.

"I-I-I," I stuttered, looking from him to a very flustered and tousled Jacob, trying to see what he wanted.

"N-no, I was just about to take her home." Jacob said, quickly getting up and walking to the bathroom to get my things. He gave me and apologetic smile and we rushed through goodbye's with his dad before leaving. "I'm sorry, did you... wanna stay for dinner?"

"I..." I wanted to spend more time with him.

"Me too," He said, smiling brightly and taking my hand. He kissed it quickly and held onto it all the way home. "I'll talk to you tomorrow, I'll eh wait for you to wake up after my shift ends."

I nodded and waited for him to drive off as I stood on the porch. He got out of the car and stormed up to me, once again hoisting me into his arms for a tight hug, I blushed a bright red, knowing I wasn't wearing a bra. The awkwardness soon faded and just when I felt like saying 'Hey, please move in with me' he put me down, we looked into each others eyes intently for a few moments, I thought he was going to kiss me but even though the mood was there, he kept a distance and stepped off the porch. "See you tomorrow!"

"Yeah," I said, feeling dazed from all of it. "Was that the perfect moment for a kiss?"

"It totally was, why didn't you jump his ass!?"

"Gah! Celeste! What-who- were you spying on me through the peephole?" I questioned, stepping through the front door.

She crossed her arms and look the other way. "I was just checking who was up there, that's all."

I scowled at her and shook my head. "You have issues."

Absentmindedly brushing my teeth, my mind kept going back to how Jacob hadn't even tried to kiss me yet. Maybe it was too early, but the memory of how he had jammed his mouth onto Bella's without them even dating stung in the back of my head. She was in a whole other relationship at that time too. The differences in situation were there of course, it could well be that he wanted to take things slowly and honestly, hugging him already felt so intimate. Yet, I was feeling all these doubts, the fear of being a fun thing before Bella would come back was a reoccurring fear during the night.

"Christ, I need to get a grip," I growled, slamming my head back into my pillow. Celeste and I had real jobs, I was earning real money, living a pretty good life! What we did was important to all those worlds and the people in them! Sure, I was never the perfect model of a strong personality, but at the hand of Jacob Black, everything I worked for was melting away. He either wanted me or wanted Bella! I wouldn't accept any in between actions or doubts about that. I could pursue a relationship with Jacob, but I had to, at least mentally, keep a little bit of distance between while I was fixing the story.

The next morning I visited Celeste at Paul's house, she rotated between staying with Sam and Emily and staying with him. Paul was sound asleep in the bedroom of the tiny apartment since he had just returned from the night shift. "Did they find anything about the vampire?"

Her eyes widened a bit but she shook her head. "Not that Paul's told me of, why?"

"Just asking... listen," I whispered, beckoning her to lean in. I didn't want Paul to pick up on any of this. "I need the Cullen's phone number to ask about my... you know what. Edward would look for it and you can't tell me those vampire senses haven't found my... thing if it had been there."

She too, looked between us and the bedroom door while answering. "I don't have their number, but you could go by the hospital and ask to talk to Carlisle? If he's not busy he'll surely talk to you."

I thought about it for a moment, it seemed safer than taking the bus and being in that wooded area alone, over the border. "I'll try that,"

"You're not thinking of leaving, are you?" Celeste swallowed loudly. "I-I thought things were looking up?"

"I just... want to be able to at least make the decision myself." I murmured, noticing Paul's snoring had stopped.

I pointed at the bedroom door to her and she walked over to it, opening the door slightly. "Still asleep," She whispered.

We said our goodbyes and I went off to the bus stop at the beach, the one that was the closest to their apartment. I sat down on the cold seat and checked the time, 20 minutes until the next bus should arrive, so I had plenty of time to think of what I'd say or do to get Carlisle to come and talk to me. He was the best doctor there, so he must have a busy schedule. Someone else came to wait for the bus and I payed no attention to them at all as I was deep in thought and they didn't say anything to me either, until I heard growling from the nearby bushes. I frowned and looked over, making eye contact with a familiar pair of brown eyes, looking murderously at the person next to me. In reflex I looked over at them, to see a sadistic grin, matched with the glowing red eyes. "What the hell," I whispered, trying to glide off the seat to somehow escape while under his gaze.

"Almost right," He chuckled, not moving even though I was backing away. "You girls sure have fun with the gang, does the boyfriend know of your knowledge?" My eyes widened, what had that stupid informant told him exactly? How much did he know!? "Don't worry, I don't know anything beyond the wedding. But my instincts tell me there's going to be a showdown, why don't you just tell them to avoid it?"

"Don't know what you're talking about," I murmured, still trying to back away as far as possible. I decided to warn him. "Making changes will only take a turn for the worst,"

His red eyes glistened and I thought I saw his teeth, gleaming with saliva. "Aren't you girls very...big changes?"

I blinked at his counter and he was gone. I turned around, wincing a little, expecting a blow or attack any second. It stayed away for a couple of frantic seconds, I was about to let out a breath again, thinking I was safe when I was swooped into strong arms that crushed me to a rock like chest. It took me some time to register the warmth and I realized Jacob had come to rescue me. My arms were folded against him so I couldn't hug him back, but I relaxed, knowing it was him. I felt his lips press against the top of my head and my legs buckled, making him hold me even tighter. "Are you okay?"

"Uhuh," I nodded against his chest.

Shortly after, he let go and I was met with the cold weather again. Jacob was quiet, looking defeated and absolutely exhausted, I realized he must have never stopped the shift or just come out of bed to hunt the vampire. "We're going to my place," He said, never really taking a hold of my hand but brushing past it every few seconds.

"I actually-" Had things to do. I halted the rejection of his plans, seeing his stressed out appearance in combination with dark circles under his puppy dog eyes. "Sounds good."

We walked for about twenty minutes before we got to his house, he hadn't said anything in the time we were together and I started to worry about whether or not he was suspicious of what the vampire told me, or what I told him. "My dad's out, food is those cabinets there. I'm just gonna sleep for like, an hour," He explained, brushing past my hand again before walking to his bedroom.

I felt a little awkward, sitting on his couch alone and watching TV. After about an hour and a half, Jacob hadn't gotten up yet and I didn't have the heart to wake him up. He was crazy in the first place, planning on sleeping only one hour after working all night, who would be able to live like that? After two hours I had gotten some more courage and I drank some water, very quietly moving around the living room to kitchen. When I walked back to the couch I thought I heard noise from the dark hallway and moving on the tips of my toes, I followed the strange sounds. I ended up at Jacob's room, the door was open and he was twitching in bed, his face contracted as if he were in pain, making weeping noises, almost sounding like a wounded animal. I turned to walk away again, but stopped halfway, looking back at his restless form and the sweat on his forehead. Something tugged on my heart and my fingers twitched to do something, but what? If I woke him up, he'd get out of bed and not get enough sleep, but if I didn't...

Stepping into the room, I quietly opened a window and picked up his shirt from the floor, dabbing it across his head to get rid of the sweat. I picked out a book he had lying about on the floor and sat on the edge, slowly but surely maneuvering my way over him, sitting on the bed's empty space near the wall. I opened the book on my lap and held it in my left hand, while running my fingers through his hair with the other. Almost instantly the sounds went away and I heard him sigh, his breathing became deep and even. At one point he turned towards me, his eyes half open for a second, before putting his head in my lap and wrapping his arms around my legs. I chuckled and caressed his face and neck, trying to stay clear of his bare back, because I didn't want it to seem like I was fondling him in his sleep.

I constantly found myself looking down at Jacob, sound asleep on my lap and the content feeling of having people around me again. At home, I lived for my job, which was fine as long as I stayed there, but at the end of the day you have to go back home. I didn't know how long it had been, but I finished the book and sat back, still running through his dark hair and petting his face. A smile started to appear and I stopped while his eyes fluttered open, his body stiffened for a moment but then he realized it was me. "Bridget? What-what time is it?" He asked, hurriedly sitting up and looking around.

"Ehm," I opened my mouth to answer him, but realized I didn't know either. "No idea,"

"How long have you been here?" He asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"A couple of hours?" I answered, looking at the darkening sky outside. "Maybe?"

Jacob smiled at first, before something in his eyes changed and my stomach was suddenly riddled with butterflies. The way he looked at me, his eyes glazed over by something other than affection, he scooted closer in one swift movement. My eyes fell onto his bare chest, making a shiver run up my spine while I told myself not to stare, I looked back up, meeting his intense gaze once more. My breathing sped up and I felt my own eyes change as he moved closer, we laid down next to each other. He softly caressed my face and as he ran his thumb over my lips I couldn't help but kiss it tentatively, because I knew what I wanted and with that, he knew it too. He held my face in his hands and I moved my body against his, the contact making him gasp. He all but jammed his mouth onto mine, unable to wait any longer. The kiss was wild and awkward at first, Jacob was aggressive while I was timid, his teeth hit mine and I winced at the strange feeling. Trying to slow him down I pulled back, he looked at me with hurt and questioning eyes, opening his mouth to say something. I smiled and kissed him again, softly, while courageously caressing his toned side and then his chest. He shivered so extremely I hesitated, I could feel him hard against my leg, he couldn't help it but I didn't want to lead him on, thinking this was going further than I was prepared for it to go.

One of his hands moved across my back and he pressed me even closer, he whimpered and I knew he was just looking for some relieve but I forced myself to stop. I kissed him softly one more time, then a second time, a third time just because. Every time I moved back we looked at each other and I couldn't help but give into one more kiss. I eventually let out a loud breath and pressed my face into his neck, he hugged me tightly and I felt his heartbeat against my chest. He twitched against my thigh and a suddenly horrified Jacob jumped off the bed, only to realize he had now given me a full view of what was going on in his pants, he covered himself and turned around. My face was beet red as his had darkened greatly. "I-I'm sorry, crap eh- I don't know what-"

"I-It's fine!" I said quickly, getting off the bed and walking up to him, he didn't turn around. "Maybe I should go home?"

"No!" I jumped and he shook his head, his face was apologetic. "N-no, I just...I don't want you to think I took you here for-for these kinds of things..."

"I-I know," I smiled shyly at the floor, my cheeks still burning brightly.

"It's only six," Jacob started. "You wanna have dinner and then maybe catch a movie together?"

I hesitated, looking at my bewildered form in the mirror. Hair flipping everywhere but down, some leftover mascara had smudged underneath my eye and my clothes were made for comfort, not a date. "Ehmm-"

"You look beautiful," He answered my doubts breathlessly and I caught his eye in the mirror, he had that loving look in them, that sparkle.

"Well, alright."

I could always continue the search for my Switcher tomorrow. Right?

The only thing keeping his eyes off me was the road ahead of us and the fact that he was driving the car, any moment it seemed like he had the chance he looked over at me, grinning with boyish pride. It seemed that when he wasn't doing wolf business or busy with Bella, he was much more a boy rather than the grumpy man he sometimes portrayed himself as. I liked the grinning Jacob, the one that with innocence had still kissed me so passionately. Thinking back to the kiss I blushed and squirmed, I wanted to do it again, I wanted to be with him like that every day. It was a crush, a stupid crush but then he looks at me with those puppy dog eyes, I melt, my world shifts, I feel so complete. As if knowing my line of thought, Jacob took a hold of my hand and I felt my mind calm down again. When he wasn't angry, he had this air about him, a relaxed but strong aura that kept me calm without him even having to say anything. Could I really blame myself for falling for him? He was everything I wished for. Maybe I didn't need the choice of being able to leave, maybe I could make the choice now.

Jacob stopped the car and turned towards me. "We're he-"

My lips met his once more, the feeling of his soft lips made mine tingle and he cupped my face with one of his hands. He was holding back, probably because I had non verbally suggested he had been too rough before, but this time I wanted a little more. I deepened the kiss, nibbling on his bottom lip, making him groan and flick his tongue against mine. It felt like I was in the right hands, like I didn't have to worry about anything anymore, because he was there. "Sorry," I mumbled, sitting back.

He kept his eyes closed before opening one. "It's okay, you can go on."

I laughed at that and playfully pushed his face away, he grinned so genuinely, my heart melted. "What movie are we even here to watch?"

"Ehmm we'll just decide inside," He said before stepping out of the car.

We ended up watching a cute little movie about a dog, Jacob probably didn't see much of it since he was looking at me, or kissing my hand or hugging me close. I was a little surprised by all the affection he was suddenly giving me, sometimes it was a little out of place but then I thought of how he had never actually had a girlfriend, he had since he was 15 or even earlier, gone for Bella. It was cute how he wanted to hold my hand and hug me, of course he wanted to. He felt the same stuff as me, probably even more extreme than me. Maybe Jacob was the right choice for me, if he would be like this forever I'd marry him tomorrow. "You like the movie?" He asked on the ride back home.

"Yeah it was nice," I murmured, feeling extremely tired from the whole day. "I'm glad the dog didn't die."

"Me too," He said, but there was something different in his tone. "W-what did that bloodsucker mean by 'Aren't you girls big changes'? What did you tell him?"

"I..." I paused, it felt like the right moment to tell him everything but something inside me stopped me just in time. It felt unfair, he had shared everything with me, we were in a relationship... shouldn't I just tell him? Bella had been gone for longer than was described in the books, there was a huge chance she wasn't even pregnant. "I don't remember, I was just saying things to keep him from hurting me."

Jacob squeezed my hand tightly and growled through his teeth. "He won't ever hurt you Bridget." 

Guilt flooded my mind, I had a feeling all my secrets would be thrown out there one day and it wouldn't be pretty.


End file.
